NEW YORK -- The FBI arrested a New Jersey man for allegedly spying for Israel by stealing military secrets including technology for the "Patriot Defense" system as well as fighter jet technology, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

Ben-Ami Kadish is set to be arraigned on the espionage charges in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

Investigators said Kadish stole secrets from the Picatinny Arsenal in Dover from 1979 through 1985.

Kadish allegedly smuggled documents from the base to his home. Court documents said an Israeli agent would then travel to the residence and "take photographs of the classified documents in the basement of the residence. The next morning, Kadish would take the classified documents back to the Arsenal and return them to the library,” the complaint said.

A woman who answered the phone at Kadish's home declined to comment on the charges.

Court papers suggest some of the confidential documents also contained information about nuclear technology and F-15's. The criminal complaint suggests Kadish made statements about having taken the documents because they had "a direct correlation to Israel's security."

"These kinds of activities, whether they occurred long in the past or, you know, occur present day, are not the kinds of actions we would expect from a friend and ally," said Tom Casey, deputy spokesman for the U.S. State Department.

The FBI said an unnamed co-conspirator (CC-1) who worked at the Israeli consulate in Manhattan took the secret information.

In a recent phone call to Kadish about the ongoing criminal investigation, CC-1 allegedly said, "don't say anything. Let them say whatever they want. ... What happened 25 years ago? You don't remember anything." Court records suggest CC-1 left the U.S. in 1985. He had lived in the Riverdale section of the Bronx.

Investigators tell NBC News Kadish's contact was also linked to spy Jonathan Pollard, who was convicted of passing U.S. defense secrets to Israel. A spokeswoman at the Israeli Consulate in New York said she was unaware of the charges and would look into the matter.

Kadish, an engineer now in his 80's, worked at the U.S. Army's Armament Research and Engineering Center in Dover.

"He's always involved in the Jewish community affairs," said his Monroe Township neighbor, Joanne Shapiro. "With his wife, he does a lot for the holocaust. Lovely people."

Said another neighbor, Marilyn Goldberg, "I know they have a strong love for Israel, but I don't know much else."