'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.
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?