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.
Lewinsky's Lawyers: Jacob Stein, Plato Cacheris - CJR, Nov/Dec 98
How do you know that? Did they tell you? Do you work for the Mosad?
I don't approve of that at all. But that aspect may be what you were missing.
P.S. Incidentally, we do the same thing -- listening in, for example, on their internal communications. We want to know what they know.
Why? There was nothing anti-Semitic in post 9.
If you want to criticize Israel or out policy towards that country --- fine, as long as you are fair.
You are upset about the foreign aid? Fine. Then be upset about our aid to Europe for 50 years. Starting with Marshal Plan. Lend lease. Our troops there. And the fact that we spent 50% more than the Europeans on NATO. That dwarfs our aid to Israel.
If you are upset equally about all of the above --- you are not prejudiced and nobody will call you "anti-Semite."
This is very simple really. If you are upset about ALL of our open borders, you are not a racist. But if you are upset only about our southern border --- that one can suspect you of being prejudiced. Simple, really.
As an American and a Jew, I second your opinion. Those that betray this great country, whatever the motivation, should rot in jail (at best).
It's an old Russian saying made also famous by Lenin, who used in one of his papers.
I think this is, ultimately, the only morally justifiable position to take in cases such as this. It's possible to make the argument that specific cases require individual attention and consideration, -but-, you can not have anyone, allies or enemy sympathizers doing whatever they would without regard for the law: that would be anarchy. When treason, sedition, desertion or any form of betrayal of one's country is proven, the country must assume the worst intentions.
"I am sick and tired of the Israeli's spying on one hand and having their hand out for foreign aid on the other."
Israel has been known to spy in the USA for decades and they won't stop as long as they know that it pay off in the long run. Well, it has piad off for them in the intervening years at the expense of our military personnel.
Oh, don't forget also the Israelis sale of our military secrets to the Chinese. Despite their being admonished by several administrations, they have continued to sell us out to our enemies. All this as we continue to send billions of dollars to them. Expect a few more billions going their way for recompense of withdrawing from the occupied Gaza strip.
"Our policy should be the same for every nation."
It should, but unfortunately it isn't.
Sad.
"Paul McNulty, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, announced that Lawrence Anthony Franklin, age 58, of Kearneysville, WV; Steven J. Rosen, age 63, of Silver Spring, MD; and Keith Weissman, age 53, of Bethesda, MD, were indicted today by a federal grand jury sitting in Alexandria with Conspiracy to Communicate National Defense Information to Persons Not Entitled to Receive It."
I wager you that these traitors will get away with just twenty years in prison and a slap on their wrist. In the not so distant past traitors used to be put against the wall and summarily shot. We're losing our country to the foe.
"But we are more afraid of the "anti-semite" label than of any other words on earth. That prevents us from doing what is right and even upright for ourselves."
So right you are.
I don't know where all this will lead us, but we are what I call in their fourth phase. Phase 1 was, and continues to be, control of history and revisionism, ie past history. Phase 2 is the control of the present by controlling the written word. Phase 3 control of personal speech through political correctness (aka fear and intimidation). The current phase is an outright control of the thought process. Sounds very Orwellian, I know, but that's the reality. I expect theit ultimate phase is to turn us into some kind of humanoids or automatons in which all critical thinking will be drained from our minds and we'll be acting like machines at their mere command.
This reminds me of the biggest case of espionage committed by none other than Boy Clinton when he sold out our nuclear secrets to China. Technology that China would have never in a million years been able to recreate! (Well maybe in a million years.)
Agreed.
One question. Whose command is "their mere command"?
Twenty year AND a slap on the wrist? I'm curious. What is the "slap"? You are an idiot.
SJackson, can I just say I appreciate your always level-headed discussion. Its truly a shame that idiots inject themselves, but that is the price of free expression.
Het Ode, welcome to FR!
Hey there. Thanks.
You don't really think this is similar to what Clinton did, do you?
Pollard stole and gave away a ton of very precious stuff. And, exposing himself by doing so, accepted a lot of money and luxury items for himself and his wife. 40 years is merciful for his vile behavor. The nasty smirk on his face when he's photographed nowadays says a lot about his lack of good character. I'm pro-Israel, but the Pollard spying was wrong.
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