Posted on 03/05/2002 1:19:57 PM PST by Silly
Impacting hard? Of COURSE!
When the story hits, someone please post it.
U.S. Deports Israelis Amid Warnings of Espionage Activities
By Ted Bridis
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Authorities have arrested and deported dozens of young Israelis since early last year who represented themselves as art students in efforts to gain access to sensitive federal office buildings and the homes of government employees, U.S. officials said.
A draft report from the Drug Enforcement Administration - which first characterized the activities as suspicious - said the youths' actions "may well be an organized intelligence-gathering activity."
Immigration officials deported them for visa violations; no criminal espionage charges were filed.
The arrests, made in an unspecified number of major U.S. cities from California to Florida, came amid public warnings from U.S. intelligence agencies about suspicious behavior by people posing as Israeli art students and "attempting to bypass facility security and enter federal buildings."
The Israelis were arrested and deported on charges of working in the United States without authorization or overstaying visits on tourist visas, said Russ Bergeron, a spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Washington. He described dozens of arrests since early 2001 but gave no exact figures.
The DEA report said a majority of the students questioned by U.S. investigators acknowledged having served in military intelligence, electronic signals interception or explosive ordnance units in the Israeli military. The DEA said one person questioned was the son of a two-star Israeli general, one had served as the bodyguard to the head of the Israeli Army and another served in a Patriot missile unit.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Yaffa Ben-Ari said it was "nonsense" that the students were spying on the United States.
Another Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Irit Stopper, confirmed that a few Israelis posing as art students were expelled from the United States for working without permits. However they were not accused of espionage, she said. She did not say how many Israelis were expelled and did not give any additional details.
The DEA report was first obtained by a French Web site that specializes in intelligence news, Intelligenceonline.com, and confirmed Tuesday as authentic by DEA spokeswoman Rogene Waite in Washington. The Web site said 120 Israelis had been arrested.
"That these people are now traveling in the U.S. selling art seems not to fit their background," the report said.
An FBI official, speaking on condition of anonymity, noted there were no espionage charges filed against any of the individuals and that they had been deported. Asked whether any spying activity occurred, the official repeated that no charges had been filed.
A Justice Department official, also asking not to be publicly identified, said investigators have been aware of some "alleged linkage" between the students and alleged espionage activities in the United States since early 2001, and said authorities have made arrests in Dallas, Chicago, San Diego and in south Florida. INS spokesman Rodney Germain in Miami said five or six people were arrested in that area at least six months ago on immigration counts.
Although security experts at the DEA first characterized the youths' behavior as suspicious, and INS authorities later arrested them, the FBI typically investigates espionage cases in the United States.
The DEA report said that among U.S. sites apparently targeted was Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, home to the military's AWACS surveillance planes and the place where many of the nation's B-1 bombers are repaired. Investigators also said that one female art student went to the home of a worker for the Environmental Protection Agency in Denver to sell paintings and returned later to photograph the house, according to the report.
No one within the Justice Department has expressed concerns about the Israeli students possibly committing espionage, Justice spokesman Bryan Sierra said. The deputy U.S. attorney general, Larry Thompson, declined to discuss the arrests when asked about them during a news conference Tuesday.
The U.S. Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive, a federal agency, circulated a public warning in March 2001 urging employees to report contact with people describing themselves as Israeli art students.
"These individuals have been described as aggressive," the warning said. "They attempt to engage employees in conversation rather than giving a sales pitch."
Cooperation with Israel, a longtime key ally, is increasingly important in the U.S. war on terrorism.
AP-ES-03-05-02 1658EST
This story can be found at :
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAQS1FAGYC.html
OK, can someone please explain to me how claiming to be an "art student" can get one access to sensitive federal office buildings and homes of government employees? It just seems very weird. I mean, if I wanted to sneak into a high-security government building I think I'd have a better chance if I was a janitor, a security guard, electrician, plumber or asbestos remover. "ART STUDENT"?? This makes no sense at all, and I read a lot of novels.
French Reports: U.S. Busts Big Israeli Spy Ring Tue Mar 5,12:44 PM ET
PARIS (Reuters) - 'The United States has broken up a huge Israeli spy ring that may have trailed suspected al Qaeda members in the United States without informing federal authorities, the French daily Le Monde reported Tuesday.
A secret U.S. government report outlining spying activities by Israelis contained "elements (that) support the theory that Israel did not give the U.S. all the information it had about the planning for the Sept. 11 attacks," it wrote.
Le Monde said the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had confirmed the existence of the secret study, which says the Israelis posed as graphic arts students and tried to enter buildings belonging to the DEA and other U.S. agencies.
Intelligence Online, a Paris-based newsletter that reported on the study Monday, said some 120 Israeli spies had been arrested or expelled and inquiries were continuing.
Asked by Reuters Monday about the Intelligence Online report, an FBI spokesman called it a "bogus story." The spokesman said: "There wasn't a spy ring." U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman Susan Dryden said on Tuesday in response to the Le Monde report, "At this time, we have no information to support this."
U.S. officials said some Israeli students had been sent out of the country for immigration violations, not for spying. In Israel Monday, a spokesman told Reuters: "The prime minister's office declines to comment on this matter." Le Monde Tuesday reported Intelligence Online's findings and added elements it said its reporters had uncovered.
"A vast Israeli espionage network operating on American territory has been broken up," Le Monde wrote. The French newspaper described it as the biggest Israeli spy case in the United States to be made public since 1986, a reference to the life sentence given Jonathan Pollard, an American Jew who passed U.S. military secrets to Israel.
The Pollard affair strained relations between the United States and Israel, two traditionally close allies. Guillaume Dasquie, editor of Intelligence Online, told Reuters Monday the report did not specify exactly what information the alleged agents were seeking.'
It's the bogus Fox story, recycled. Follow the link for the rest...(-:
They were most likely looking for Chandra Levy!
etc.!
IMHO
'No one within the Justice Department has expressed concerns about the Israeli students possibly committing espionage, Justice spokesman Bryan Sierra said. The deputy U.S. attorney general, Larry Thompson, declined to discuss the arrests when asked about them during a news conference Tuesday.
The U.S. Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive, a federal agency, circulated a public warning in March 2001 urging employees to report contact with people describing themselves as Israeli art students.
"These individuals have been described as aggressive," the warning said. "They attempt to engage employees in conversation rather than giving a sales pitch."
Oh no, 'aggressive art students' engaging people in conversation.
What a sham this article is. It has been reported ad nauseum that some Israeli art students were sent back to Israel for immigration violations. Now it pops up again. Mighty odd. At least the FBI has shot down the spy ring junk.
Check again.
Seems to me that, if true, it supports part of Carl Cameron's report on Fox News several months ago. You might remember, it was the one that Veronica and others here scoffed at.
BTW, where did the last sentence come from?
Cooperation with Israel, a longtime key ally, is increasingly important in the U.S. war on terrorism.
Was it an editorial comment by the writer? Trying to soften the blow? Seems very much out of place to me.
LOL
Seems that these "art students" had some very interesting backgrounds:
The DEA report said a majority of the students questioned by U.S. investigators acknowledged having served in military intelligence, electronic signals interception or explosive ordnance units in the Israeli military. The DEA said one person questioned was the son of a two-star Israeli general, one had served as the bodyguard to the head of the Israeli Army and another served in a Patriot missile unit.
No point in discussing this with you though. There is no way in hell that you would ever admit that perhaps they were more than just "art students", right?
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