Spying For Allies Inside The Pentagon

On October 5, the Washington Post reported that a former Defense Department expert on Iran named Larry Franklin had pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiring to pass classified documents to two former employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and to senior Israeli embassy staffers. Franklin agreed to testify against his two coconspirators, Steve Rosen, formerly AIPAC’s policy director, and Keith Weissman, the lobby’s expert on Iran.

For the past five years, the FBI has been probing AIPAC’s involvement. FBI surveillance tapes at the Tivoli Garden Restaurant in Arlington, Virginia, show Franklin giving top-secret data to Rosen and Weisman. According to the Jerusalem Post, the FBI also raided Rosen’s office and copied the hard drive of his personal computer.

The alleged purpose of the conspiracy was to “undermine a pending deal that the White House had been negotiating with the Iranian government.” Al Qaida members in Iranian custody were to be handed over to U.S. authorities in exchange for an American promise to halt support for the anti-Iranian Mujahideen al-Kalq.

Both the Sharon government and AIPAC are obviously eager not only to prevent any rapprochement between Washington and Tehran but also to incite hostility between them. According to Newsweek, an unnamed U.S. intelligence official described Franklin’s motivation: “For whatever reason, the guy hates Iran passionately.”

News reports also allege that among the officials investigated are David Satterfield, former deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs and most recently the second highest officer at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Kenneth Pollack, a former National Security Council (NSC) employee, and Naor Gilon, the chief political officer at the Israeli embassy.

It may not be accidental that Franklin’s espionage activity occurred under the nose of Douglas Feith, until recently the Defense Department's undersecretary for policy, the Pentagon's No. 3 civilian, after Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz. Feith co-authored the 1996 neo conservative policy papers trying to persuade Israel to abandon the Oslo agreement on the peace process that was ultimately to end the Israeli occupation and lead to an independent Palestinian state. It was Feith who employed Franklin, previously an attaché at the U.S. embassy in Israel, as the Pentagon’s top Iran analyst because he shared his neo conservative anti-Muslim and Anti-Arab policy preferences.

For Paul McNulty, the U.S. prosecutor in the Franklin case, it has been difficult to deal with AIPAC’s collusion and culpability in its espionage efforts for the benefit of the Sharon government. AIPAC never registered as a foreign agent and remains therefore officially a domestic lobby. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, McNulty extracted four significant concessions from AIPAC: (1) that it will never again allow such espionage to occur; (2) that it will fire and dissociate itself from its two implicated employees; (3) that it will not give the two defendants extravagant severance packages or make it appear that they resigned voluntarily; and (4) that it will not assist them financially in their defense. The Council for the National Interest, however, reports that, “as of October, AIPAC has financed over $1 million in Rosen and Weissman’s defense and is committed to paying the rest of their fees.”

Espionage indictments are usually big news in Washington, but so far neither the White House, nor the Pentagon, nor the State Department, nor any Congressman have publicly shown any concern about this case. It seems that our leaders are sorely embarrassed by the revelation that the government of Israel, our best and most favored ally, encourages spying in Pentagon offices. After all, no other ally has received so much U.S. benevolence for so long: roughly $3 billion annually since 1967, for a total of more than $100 billion of U.S. taxpayer funds. Far more valuable yet has been the diplomatic and moral support Americans have extended to Israel in spite of its government’s protracted unwillingness to make peace with its Arab neighbors, a policy objective very much in America’s national interest.

Wolf D. Fuhrig	Home	10-23-05
Spying For Allies Inside The Pentagon
On October 5, the Washington Post reported that a former Defense Department expert on Iran named Larry Franklin had pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiring to pass classified documents to two former employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and to senior Israeli embassy staffers. Franklin agreed to testify against his two coconspirators, Steve Rosen, formerly AIPAC’s policy director, and Keith Weissman, the lobby’s expert on Iran. For the past five years, the FBI has been probing AIPAC’s involvement. FBI surveillance tapes at the Tivoli Garden Restaurant in Arlington, Virginia, show Franklin giving top-secret data to Rosen and Weisman. According to the Jerusalem Post, the FBI also raided Rosen’s office and copied the hard drive of his personal computer. The alleged purpose of the conspiracy was to “undermine a pending deal that the White House had been negotiating with the Iranian government.” Al Qaida members in Iranian custody were to be handed over to U.S. authorities in exchange for an American promise to halt support for the anti-Iranian Mujahideen al-Kalq. Both the Sharon government and AIPAC are obviously eager not only to prevent any rapprochement between Washington and Tehran but also to incite hostility between them. According to Newsweek, an unnamed U.S. intelligence official described Franklin’s motivation: “For whatever reason, the guy hates Iran passionately.” News reports also allege that among the officials investigated are David Satterfield, former deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs and most recently the second highest officer at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Kenneth Pollack, a former National Security Council (NSC) employee, and Naor Gilon, the chief political officer at the Israeli embassy. It may not be accidental that Franklin’s espionage activity occurred under the nose of Douglas Feith, until recently the Defense Department's undersecretary for policy, the Pentagon's No. 3 civilian, after Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz. Feith co-authored the 1996 neo conservative policy papers trying to persuade Israel to abandon the Oslo agreement on the peace process that was ultimately to end the Israeli occupation and lead to an independent Palestinian state. It was Feith who employed Franklin, previously an attaché at the U.S. embassy in Israel, as the Pentagon’s top Iran analyst because he shared his neo conservative anti-Muslim and Anti-Arab policy preferences. For Paul McNulty, the U.S. prosecutor in the Franklin case, it has been difficult to deal with AIPAC’s collusion and culpability in its espionage efforts for the benefit of the Sharon government. AIPAC never registered as a foreign agent and remains therefore officially a domestic lobby. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, McNulty extracted four significant concessions from AIPAC: (1) that it will never again allow such espionage to occur; (2) that it will fire and dissociate itself from its two implicated employees; (3) that it will not give the two defendants extravagant severance packages or make it appear that they resigned voluntarily; and (4) that it will not assist them financially in their defense. The Council for the National Interest, however, reports that, “as of October, AIPAC has financed over $1 million in Rosen and Weissman’s defense and is committed to paying the rest of their fees.” Espionage indictments are usually big news in Washington, but so far neither the White House, nor the Pentagon, nor the State Department, nor any Congressman have publicly shown any concern about this case. It seems that our leaders are sorely embarrassed by the revelation that the government of Israel, our best and most favored ally, encourages spying in Pentagon offices. After all, no other ally has received so much U.S. benevolence for so long: roughly $3 billion annually since 1967, for a total of more than $100 billion of U.S. taxpayer funds. Far more valuable yet has been the diplomatic and moral support Americans have extended to Israel in spite of its government’s protracted unwillingness to make peace with its Arab neighbors, a policy objective very much in America’s national interest.

Wolf D. Fuhrig

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10-23-05

Spying For Allies Inside The Pentagon