There is a developing story out of Melrose, Massachusetts, a town north of Boston, that may or may not connect with national security. The home of an engineer previously employed by Raytheon Co., a US defense contractor, was searched by federal agents after he was recently stopped at JFK with unauthorized "digital materials" on his laptop. At the time he was about to leave the US for "Asia".
However, a version of the story posted on the same news channel only about 45 minutes later omitted any reference to the security stop at JFK.
Oct 25, 2010 10:51 pm US/Eastern
Feds Search Missile Expert's Home In Melrose
Federal agents searched the home of a missle and warhead engineer in... Melrose today... More than a dozen agents from ICE... and the FBI converged on the Lincoln Street home of Richard Lloyd about 7:45 Monday morning and removed boxes marked "Homeland Security evidence," as well as a number of suitcases and some kind of cylinder that were all loaded into a van and taken away.
Neighbors said Lloyd and his wife have two daughters who had left for school before the agents arrived. Lloyd is an author and missile expert and engineer who was manager of the Warhead Lethality Group at Raytheon, according to an Amazon.com bio.
"He travels to D.C.. He's got a high security clearance and he travels to the Middle East," said neighbor Maryann Hichar.
A law enforcement source tells CBS News Lloyd was stopped a couple of days ago at JFK airport leaving for Asia and during an outbound inspection, documents or digital materials were discovered on his person that should not have been leaving the country.
The U.S. Attorney's office had no comment except to say there is no immediate threat to the community. A spokesman for Raytheon had no comment, other than to say Lloyd is no longer employed by the company.
A Raytheon publication says Lloyd has several patents: including a warhead with aligned projectiles, a mine countermeasure system and one for munitions.
This is the later version of the same story as reported by WBZTV:
Oct 25, 2010 11:35 pm US/Eastern
Feds Search Mass. Home Of Missile Systems Expert
BOB SALSBERG, Associated Press Writer
BOSTON (AP) ― Federal agents on Monday searched and removed materials from a suburban home owned by a missile systems expert who worked for the U.S. defense contractor Raytheon.
The home is owned by Richard M. Lloyd, the former Raytheon Co. employee, and Lori Lloyd, public records show. Agents from the FBI and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau removed several boxes of items from the home and placed them in a van.
U.S. attorney's office spokeswoman Christina DiIorio-Sterling wouldn't comment on the reason for the search of the home in Melrose, a city of about 30,000 residents just north of Boston, but said there was "no immediate threat to the community."
Raytheon spokesman Jon Kasle confirmed Lloyd formerly worked at the Waltham, Mass.-based company, which recently was awarded a $47 million Army contract for Jackal passive infrared defeat systems as part of an effort to respond to combat emergencies, but he wouldn't say when Lloyd left, how long he worked there or what he did...
A biography of Lloyd on the website of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics identifies him as a one-time manager of the Warhead Lethality Group of the Raytheon Co. Electronic Systems Division and as author of the 1998 book "Conventional Warhead Systems Physics and Engineering Design."
Lloyd also is listed on Amazon.com as the author of "Physics of Direct Hit and Near Miss Warhead Technology." According to his author's page on Amazon, Lloyd has extensive hands-on experience with advanced state-of-the-art interceptor missiles and has served as principal investigator on missile projects.
Public records of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office list Lloyd as the holder of five patents, including one issued June 1 for a "mine counter measure system," described in part by the patent office as "a method of destroying mines in a minefield buried under the surface."
Lloyd also is named as the holder of a patent for a "wide area dispersal warhead."
A spokesman for the Boston office of the FBI referred questions to the U.S. attorney's office, and ICE did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.
2 comments:
Oh boy.
Why is a missile expert going to the ME?
Apparently he ain't going there any more. Actually, it was euphemized as "Asia" before disappearing from WBZ's account altogether. Whatever was on his laptop must have been worrisome enough to have feds swarming Melrose a couple days later. Will be interesting to see if there is follow-up.
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