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The Chevy Chase Village resident arrested on espionage charges faces his first court hearing later this week.

Stewart Nozette, 52, of the 100 block of Grafton Street, has a preliminary hearing scheduled Oct. 29 at 1:30 p.m. at U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, on a charge of attempting to spy on the United States for Israeli intelligence. He was arrested by the FBI Oct. 19. He is currently being detained and faces life in prison if convicted. His attorney, John Kiyonaga of Alexandria, Va., declined to comment on the case.

Nozette, a former federal research scientist with NASA and other government agencies, was arrested following a criminal complaint by the FBI stating that he agreed to sell national defense secrets to an undercover FBI agent in exchange for cash. The FBI undercover operation that led to Nozette's arrest began on Sept. 3 and lasted until at least Oct. 1.

Nozette flew to an unidentified foreign country with two portable computer disk drives and returned to the U.S. without them, according to the FBI complaint.

Nozette's received $11,000 from the FBI in exchange for information he left in a post office box before he was arrested, according to the FBI.