Ex-Fugitive Admits Guilt in Nuclear Triggers Case
An engineer who once held a top security clearance pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to illegally exporting nuclear triggering devices to Israel.
Richard Kelly Smyth, 72, formerly of Huntington Beach, was extradited earlier this year from Spain, where he had lived undetected as a fugitive for 16 years. He was accused of selling 800 nuclear triggers, known as krytrons, to an Israeli company without U.S. government approval.
Smyth pleaded guilty to one count of violating the U.S. Arms Export Control Act and one count of lying about the contents of a krytron shipment.
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