Posted on 08/04/2005 4:21:58 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - Two former employees of a pro-Israel lobbying organization were charged Thursday with conspiring to obtain and disclose classified U.S. defense information for five years.
A five-count indictment unsealed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., named Steven Rosen, formerly the director of foreign policy issues for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and Keith Weissman, the organization's former senior Iran analyst.
The charges follow the indictment in June of Pentagon analyst Lawrence A. Franklin, who is accused of leaking classified military information to an Israeli official and the AIPAC employees.
The lengthy FBI investigation that led to Thursday's charges has been closely followed in Washington, where AIPAC is an influential interest group. The case also has served as a reminder of a tense time in U.S.-Israeli relations: the 1985 spy scandal in which civilian Navy analyst Jonathan Pollard was caught spying for Israel.
The government is not accusing Franklin, Rosen and Weissman of espionage, although the FBI has questioned at least one Israeli official and also wants to talk to Naor Gilon, who recently returned to Israel after a stint as a senior diplomat in the Israeli embassy in Washington.
Israeli Embassy spokesman David Siegel said his country's diplomats have done nothing wrong. "We've seen no information to suggest anything to the contrary," Siegel said.
He acknowledged that U.S. officials have asked about questioning Gilon. "We've expressed our willingness to cooperate," he said.
Rosen, a top AIPAC lobbyist for 23 years, and Weissman disclosed sensitive information as far back as 1999 on a variety of topics, including al-Qaida, terrorist activities in Central Asia, the bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia and U.S. policy in Iran, the indictment said. Among their contacts were U.S. and foreign government officials and reporters, the indictment said.
One unanswered question is how the men might have obtained classified material before they met Franklin, who specialized in Iranian and Middle Eastern affairs, in 2003. While the indictment suggests that at least two other U.S. government officials also were sources of classified information, no other charges are planned at this time, U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty said at a news conference in Alexandria.
McNulty said the men apparently were motivated by a desire to advance their personal agendas and careers by trading on prized information. "The facts alleged today tell a story of individuals who put their own interests and their own views of foreign policy ahead of American national security," McNulty said.
Rosen, 63, of Silver Spring, Md.; Weissman, 53, of Bethesda, Md.; and Franklin, 58, of Kearneysville, W.Va., are scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 16 in Alexandria.
"The charges in the indictment announced today are entirely unjustified," said Abbe Lowell, Rosen's attorney. John Nassikas, Weissman's lawyer, said, "We are disappointed that the government has decided to pursue these charges, which Mr. Weissman strongly denies."
Franklin previously pleaded innocent, but Thursday's indictment dropped one charge against him and he will be re-arraigned on the others. Prosecutors did not explain why they dropped the charge of communicating classified information to someone not authorized to receive it.
Plato Cacheris, Franklin's lawyer, said he had been expecting additional charges. He said Franklin cooperated with investigators for three months in 2004.
The investigation has been under way since at least 2001 and has included use of sophisticated electronic surveillance techniques, law enforcement officials have said. The indictment suggests that investigators were listening in on Rosen as far back as 1999, because the indictment includes a purported snippet of a conversation he had with an unidentified foreign official.
For the past two years, the FBI has focused on whether Franklin passed classified U.S. material on Iran and other matters to AIPAC, and whether that group in turn passed it on to Israel. Both AIPAC and Israel deny any wrongdoing. AIPAC fired Rosen and Weissman in April. "The organization does not seek, use or request anything but legally obtained appropriate information as part of its work," AIPAC spokesman Patrick Dorton said.
Israel has said it imposed a ban on espionage in the United States after the Pollard scandal. He was sentenced to life in prison. That case damaged U.S.-Israeli relations and remains a sore point between the countries.
___
Associated Press reporter Matthew Barakat in Alexandria, Va., contributed to this report.
Read the story in today's Times.
These two people did not work for the Pentagon, they were not bound by anything. They were told items deemed classified and they passed them on. Including to reporters.
Typical Washington leak scenario.
That I assure you, is going on at this be minute, about some subject, somewhere in Washington.
Israel, in any event, wasn't spying on anyone.
And no one is being charged with anything remotely described as spying.
This is like a speeding ticket for going 60 in a 55. Is the ticket legitimate? Sure? Is everyone else going 60 or higher, you bet? Will you again drive an 60 after you pay your ticket? Highly likely.
Will anti Semites have a new cause celebre? Bet on it.
It's gotcha, pure and simple. With entrapment.
I wasn't talking about the AIPAC employees, I was talking about Franklin. He signed agreements that he apparently breached. Whatever his motives were, are we going to examine every case to see if the alleged spy was well-intentioned enough?
And I wouldn't equate it with a speeding ticket. AIPAC wouldn't have disowned them for that. And they have.
If people in the Pentagon. State, White House, Congress, etc, were not leaking, all news would be Government handouts and most of the discussions on FreeRepublic would be about celebrity facelifts and such.
So we should each have a hotline to the Pentagon?
I know you are speaking of practicalities, but I can't remember the last time the "everybody does it" defense got someone out of a jam who was facing 50 years.
I said the case was BS, not some great new spy case that the anti Israel contingent will make it out to be.
I never said they will get away with "it", "it" depends on the defense and the jury.
It's just another incidence that shows- even if they single you out for what everyone else does- if the Government wants to get you- for leaks- for going 60 in a 55- for almost anything- they can.
More curious is the Government motive.
AIPAC like every other entity and covers their ass. Fire first, questions later.
You are concentrating on Franklin, and he may have violated some secrecy oath, but the motivation to entrap the AIPAC guys is an issue.
They were fed info- of an imminent danger- knowing they would- I think rightly- pass it on.
My guess we do. Does it bother you, as it does me, that after a four year plus investigation none of the leakers other than Franklin are being prosecuted, nor any of the recipients other than Rosen and Weissman?
Your guess "we do" what? I'm sorry, I'm not certain what part of my post you were referring to.
And to answer your question, do you know that there were other leakers? And, if I read the stories about this correctly, there are individuals who left the Israeli embassy for Israel that the FBI would like to talk to. So perhaps more will be charged, I don't know.
Have 50 Franklin's running around. Unfortunately leaks are endemic in Washington, it would be a good thing to start prosecuting these people. As you noted, the obligation of government employees is clear. Those who are leaked to, much less clear.
And, if I read the stories about this correctly, there are individuals who left the Israeli embassy for Israel that the FBI would like to talk to. So perhaps more will be charged, I don't know.
One individual from the embassy who rotated home. Israel has agreed to allow to have him interviewed, through written questions I believe. The FBI never got around to it while he was here, but the offer is still open as I understand it. Since no one other than Freepers, including the FBI, alleges espionage here, he may not have much to offer. As to other leakers, most articles acknowledge there are others. This article notes two government employees who aren't being charged. It also accuses the ex AIPAC employees of distributing information since 1999. Since Franklin got his job in 2003, clearly others are involved.
BTW, if you recall this story broke during the election, spun as an invective against GWB and his neo-cons. It never got political legs. Until now, virtually all the information has come from FBI and grand jury testimony leaks. We'll get a better idea what happened when the trial rolls around.
‘Spy’ case not what originally claimed by GOTCHA! media. I don't have links handy to post, but if you search a little you'll discover that David Szady, FBI head of counterintelligence, who personally supervised this investigation left the CIA after a similar "revelation" in which he outed a Jewish spy at the DOD. Terrible stuff in his background surfaced. He had attended a Jewish summer camp, and went to Israel for a week after his Bar Mitzvah. And he had Jewish relatives. 15 months after the accusation the "spy" got his job back, his security clearance back, the CIA issued an apology for what amounted to a vendetta, and ordered "sensitivity training" for it's employees. Fortunately the US, being sovereign, couldn't be sued for damages, or it would have cost us a lot more than 15 months pay and sensitivity training. Szady got moved to the FBI, later promoted by GWB to head of counterintelligence.
I agree with you, we will just have to wait and see.
No one can trust any Government completely, but I also think we should be hesitant to attribute malice to individuals or agencies without more than circumstantial evidence.
As I think about it, Szady might have been responsible for the similarly bogus charges against Adam Ciralsky, a Jewish CIA attorney, not the DOD engineer.
If you're referring to Szady, he's been accused of bias against Jewish employees by several national organizations, members of Congress, and apologized for by George Tenet, all long before any of this was thought of. I'm sure he has thick skin by now. We'll know when it's all over, a year or more I'm sure, but if all than comes out of this investigation are these three accusations, I'd question whether it was worth the direct supervision by the head of counterintelligence. As to the resources devoted, I don't know what they were, but that could be worth thinking about as well.
If this stays simply legal, my guess is that it vanishes in several years maybe with some minor plea.
Or if pressure is to be applied to Israel for concessions- leaks spring up all over the place on AIPAC'S nefarious behavior. Remember when Bush I was in an ugly way highlighting the pro-Israeli lobbying for loan guarantees.
In either event, if a nickel would be given for cancer research for every time Israel is going to be accused of spying and treachery and such from the usual quarters (even though Israel has almost nothing to do with any of this), cancer will be cured.
And he was also re-appointed in 2003, after those allegations, no? In any event, he wasn't removed.
And, as head of counterintelligence, I'd rather have him be aggressive in rooting out illegality, whether it be leakers or spies, than not. Somebody turns out not to have broken the law, great. But its not a position for one who worries about stepping on toes. Maybe that is why he is still there.
And I believe one of the Congressmen you are referring to also said this:
"The AIPAC people we're talking about are otherwise totally innocent people," Wexler added. "And the idea that the American administration, when America faces dangerous enemies all around the world, would be focused on trying to entrap otherwise innocent people is infuriating to me."
Wexler said he held US President George W. Bush accountable.
"This is nothing less than presidential involvement and direction, because Condoleezza Rice was advised of this investigation more than two years ago. Why has President Bush singled out the American Jewish community for this kind of unsettling investigation?"
"The president has set in motion a series of events that bring to light the worst kind of historical anti-Semitism and actions against the Jewish people. And that's why I personally am so sensitive and disgusted about this administration and its tactics in this regard, because this will bring to light an ugly debate with ugly accusations regarding the dual loyalty of certain members of the American Jewish community. I don't think the American Jewish community should be complacent."
Kind of over-the top, wouldn't you say?
He was reappointed, and he should be rooting out illegality. Wexler is always over the top. Had the FBI been able to get something on one of the administration neo-cons, the purpose of this investigation, he would have would have been singing a different tune. I'll wait and see how it turns out. If there's a clear line drawn by this case about leaking classified information by government employees, that's worthwhile. I doubt there'll be a line drawn over second hand transmission, not because I don't think it's worthwhile, but because that's what journalists and lobbyists trade in, but time will tell.
That's probably where this ends up, though with another "incident" for the conspiracy theorists.
Where have I heard that name before?
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