I haven’t. What I find troubling is the fact that he was sentenced based on essentially extrajudicial evidence which he didn’t have the opportunity to confront, for all practical purposes doesn’t even know the contents. And the fact that the assessment was done by a Soviet spy. Adding in the fact that his lawyer “forgot” to file an appeal, his case reflects poorly on our justice system, irrespective of the level of his guilt. I wouldn’t expect the NIS or the DD to support leniency, I don’t support a pardon either. I do think the letter should be made public, and he should have an opportunity on appeal to address the evidence. I don’t want to address all the claims because obviously we don’t know, but many of those compromised agents were the reason Ames went to jail. If Pollard did it, well maybe Ames is unjustly imprisioned. It is fodder for a spy novel, except these guys would get killed off instead of clogging the legal system.
It’s an amazing and tragic case. I’m not certain, though, that it’s just Ames provided info. Here is a link to a Jewish author commissioned by the Jewish Investigative Journalism Fund for Jewish Journals and newspapers http://web.archive.org/web/20060107223010/http://www.forward.com/issues/2002/02.06.28/news.pollard.html , who agrees that there are some legal questions in the case, yet admits that the damage that was done was above content to the heart of the sources and methods of which the US relies, mainly it’s electronic eavesdropping and surveillance system around the world.
an excerpt,
“Although the declaration was signed by Weinberger and submitted as the Secretary’s personal affidavit, the damning document was in fact assembled piecemeal by an inter-agency group of intelligence officials independently assessing Pollard’s damage to their own operations. A redacted copy of that sworn 46-page declaration, obtained by this reporter, together with information and analysis reported by several of the actual contributors, indicates that Pollard indeed compromised the most sensitive aspect of American intelligence. More than just intelligence substance, Pollard revealed the carefully guarded aspect of American intelligence, known as “sources and methods.”