“I haven’t been … involved in classified work for the last couple years,” he told the undercover agent. “But I had everything.”

Nozette detailed areas he could be helpful to Israeli intelligence. “I had all, all the way to Top Secret SCI… I had all the nuclear clearances… any that the US has done in space I’ve seen.”

Later, he negotiated the price he thought the Mossad should pay him for the secrets — based on how much it cost the US government to build and launch the technology in the first place.

“The cost to the US government was $200 million to develop it all. And then that’s not including the launching of it, integrating the satellites. So if you say OK, that probably brings it to almost a billion dollars. So I tell ya at least two hundred million, so I would say, theoretically I should charge you certainly, you know, at most one percent.”

Even during the meeting Nozette, who had already been cooperating with the undercover agent, seemed to realize how far he’d gone in betraying his country.

“So I gave you even in this first run, some of the most classified information that there is,” he said. “You know, I’ve sort of crossed the Rubicon."

And Nozette seemed to realize that meant he’d placed his fate in the hands of the man sitting across from him in the posh confines of the hotel room. “You know, so I’m yours. I mean, I, I’ve made the commitment.”