A leading Australian military adviser who worked for the federal government, the RAAF and Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove in East Timor has been arrested in the U.S. on child pornography charges.
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"Dr." Cobb: "Got kiddie porn?" |
Dr. Adam Cobb was in the U.S. working as a research professor and director at the prestigious US Naval War College in Rhode Island.
The 45-year-old was taken into custody on Friday in Portsmouth on a US federal warrant for receipt and distribution of child pornography.
Cobb allegedly uploaded images of child pornography to the social networking site, Tumblr.
If convicted he faces 20 years’ jail in the U.S.
Cobb took up the position at the US Naval War College in June last year after holding senior military and government roles in Australia and the US, including a recent strategic policy and planning position at U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Florida.
“I can confirm that he was a civilian employee and director of the Mahan Advanced Research Project at the U.S. Naval War College,” Captain Christopher Dicomitis, a Rhode Island State Police detective, told AAP on Sunday.
Cobb appeared in the U.S. District Court in Providence on Friday and was refused bail.
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Going to be a rough "cobb" indeed for the "professor" |
An investigation began in January when The National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children reported an individual in Rhode Island had uploaded child pornography to Tumblr.
The internet connection at Cobb’s Portsmouth home was identified as the origin of the images.
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Cobb had worked for the federal government, the
Royal Australian Air Force and Governor-General Sir
Peter Cosgrove in East Timor |
Laptops and mobile phones were seized from his home, while photos and videos of two females were also discovered on a storage device and a computer allegedly belonging to Cobb.
Educated at the University of Sydney, Australian National University and University of Cambridge, Cobb built a reputation as a leading military thinker. According to his biography on the U.S. Naval War College website, Cobb worked on the 1999-2000 East Timor crisis with Major General Cosgrove, who at the time was commander of the international peacekeeping mission.
“Overall, my commanders and I found Dr Cobb’s work a valuable contribution to our understanding of important issues before us,” Maj Gen Cosgrove wrote in a review of Cobb’s work as lead analyst for the Australian Parliament Defence Office.
In Australia he was special-director, strategic policy with the RAAF; senior defence adviser for the Australian parliament; an Australian parliamentary fellow; and research fellow at Australian National University’s strategic and defence studies centre.
Cobb has also worked at the Australian Embassy in Washington DC and was on the staff of former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.
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