Posted on 01/20/2006 11:30:40 AM PST by rcocean
WASHINGTON - Former Pentagon analyst Larry A. Franklin was sentenced Friday to a 12 years and seven months imprisonment for passing classified information to former American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbyists
Franklin was also found guilty of sharing classified information with Israeli diplomat Naor Gilon. He was also fined $10,000.
In sentencing Franklin, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III said the facts of the case led him to believe that Franklin was motivated primarily by a desire to help the United States, not harm it.
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretzdaily.com ...
Thinking that you know better than your superiors is not a defense, particulary when it comes to giving classified information to foreign governments.
He'd give it to Israel, who'd then give it to CHINA, probably...
From what I read before, the "secrets" were like stuff leaked everyday to the press "on background". Maybe there's more to it.
"Thinking that you know better than your superiors is not a defense, particulary when it comes to giving classified information to foreign governments."
AIPAC is an American organization.
With America's best interests at heart? Or Israels?
They happen to think that America's interests coincide with Israel's.
For the most part, I think they're correct. There are some exceptions, however.
This doesn't minimize the seriousness of the offense. Disclosing classified information does harm to the national security of the United States. If I remember correctly, he disclosed some politically sensitive information about our efforts at coalition building. Leaking that stuff might cause a potential or actual coalition partner to back out.
Yep. Being used as a conduit to get the info to Israel, where it was being routed back to us as Israeli info to give it a bit of cachet. Really. Read up on this story.
So what? CAIR probably is, too.
Generally, AIPAC does not go around supporting the folks who fly airliners into office buildings and the like.
Is there any website that explains what he revealed? All I recall is something like "American agents in Kurdistan might be attacked by Iranians" which didn't sound much like a secret to me.
1. You stated that AIPAC is an American organization.
2. Whether or not they support folks who fly airliners into office buildings has nothing to do with their status as an American organization.
If he had just given it to the NY Times, he would be called a whistleblower.
I would not characterize giving classified information to AIPAC as "espionage" per se, but rather as unlawful disclosure of classified information, which is pretty damn serious in itself. However, giving that same information to CAIR should, in my prudential judgement, be considered espionage.
With all due respect, that's a lot of baloney. Giving classified information to any organization that exists solely as a lobbying arm for a foreign government is espionage -- plain and simple. And I don't give a damn if it's CAIR, AIPAC, or the Torino 2006 Olympic Committee . . . when it comes to issues related to national security, they must all be treated the same.
"Franklin was motivated primarily by a desire to help the United States, not harm it."
Yeah, that's it. He's helping his country by giving away its secrets to whomever he chooses.
If not the death penalty, then this guy's sentence should be at least 112 years.
How Ironic.
Today's and tomorrow's news, that Iran is a national security danger to the United States, was recognized by this patriotic American while the State Dept was sleeping.
He hoped that maybe Israel could convince the US of the danger so he leaked material, in a way that occurs everyday in Washington, hoping it would get to Israel and from Israel back to Washington where it will gain in importance.
Imagine the same scenario if the information was about Al Quida, and the man leaked to Canada hoping it would come back to the US to prevent 9/11.
He had the best of motivations and history will prove him a hero even if he broke the law.
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