FBI Probe Targets Pentagon Official

[Ironsight 1]

In today's Washington Post

Quote[/b] ]FBI Probe Targets Pentagon Official

Analyst Allegedly Gave Data to Israel

By Bradley Graham and Thomas E. Ricks

Washington Post Staff Writers

Saturday, August 28, 2004; Page A01

The FBI is investigating a mid-level Pentagon official who specializes in Iranian affairs for allegedly passing classified information to Israel, and arrests in the case could come as early as next week, officials at the Pentagon and other government agencies said last night.

The name of the person under investigation was not officially released, but two sources identified him as Larry Franklin. He was described as a desk officer in the Pentagon's Near East and South Asia Bureau, one of six regional policy sections. Franklin worked at the Defense Intelligence Agency before moving to the Pentagon's policy branch three years ago and is nearing retirement, the officials said. Franklin could not be located for comment last night.

One government official familiar with the investigation said it is not yet clear whether the case will rise to the level of espionage or end up involving lesser charges such as improper disclosure or mishandling of classified information.

The investigation has been underway for some months. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and top Pentagon lawyers were informed of it some time ago, officials said. But many other senior Pentagon officials expressed surprise at the news when it was first reported last night on CBS.

Several Pentagon officials sought to play down Franklin's role in policymaking, saying that he was not in a position to have significant influence over U.S. policy.

"The Defense Department has been cooperating with the Department of Justice for an extended period of time," the Pentagon said in a statement last night. "It is the DOD's understanding that the investigation within DOD is very limited in its scope." Even so, the case is likely to attract intense attention because the official being investigated works under William J. Luti, deputy undersecretary of defense for Near East and South Asian Affairs. Luti oversaw the Pentagon's "Office of Special Plans," which conducted some early policy work for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

That office is one of two Pentagon offices that Bush administration critics have claimed were set up by Defense Department hawks to bypass the CIA and other intelligence agencies, providing information that President Bush and others used to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.

The other office was run by a Luti superior, Douglas J. Feith, undersecretary of defense for policy, and was known as the Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group. Feith reports to Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz, who in turn reports to Rumsfeld.

Neither the House nor Senate intelligence committees, however, found support for allegations that the analysts in the offices collected their own intelligence, or that their information significantly shaped the case the administration made for going to war. A law enforcement official said that the information allegedly passed by Franklin went to Israel through the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying organization. The information was said to have been the draft of a presidential directive related to U.S. policies toward Iran.

In addition to Franklin, the FBI investigation is focusing on at least two employees at AIPAC, the law enforcement official said.

Last night, AIPAC vigorously denied any wrongdoing and said it is fully cooperating with the investigation.

"Any allegation of criminal conduct by the organization or its employees is baseless and false," spokesman Josh Block said in a written statement. "We would not condone or tolerate for a second any violation of U.S. law or interests." He said he had been traveling and so had no additional information on the situation.

Another AIPAC official said: "Our folks are pretty outraged about this. We've had these kinds of accusations before, and none of them has ever proven to be true."

David Siegel, spokesman for the Israeli Embassy, said: "We categorically deny these allegations. They are completely false and outrageous."

Israel is a close ally of the United States, but espionage investigations here involving its government are not unprecedented. In 1987, a U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, Jonathan J. Pollard, admitted to selling state secrets to Israel and was sentenced to life in prison.

Franklin's name surfaced in news reports last year that disclosed he and another Pentagon specialist on the Persian Gulf region had met secretly with Manucher Ghorbanifar, a discredited expatriate Iranian arms merchant who figured prominently in the Iran-contra scandal of the mid-1980s.

That meeting, according to Pentagon officials, took place in late 2001. It had been formally sanctioned by the U.S. government in response to an Iranian government offer to provide information relevant to the war on terrorism. Franklin and the other Pentagon official, Harold Rhode, met with the Iranians over three days in Italy. Ghorbanifar attended these meetings. Rumsfeld has said that the information received at the meetings led nowhere.

Staff writer Dan Eggen and researcher Alice Crites contributed to this report.

Full article

[Necromancer- 0]

Why would the Israeli's spy an ally?

[Mister Frag 0]

Why would the Israeli's spy an ally?

You can bet that the U.S. doesn't share all of its intelligence information with its allies. Nobody does...

[red oct 2]

i would be interested in knowing what kind of information on Iran was given to Isreal, and what they plan on doing w/ it.

[ralphwiggum 6]

it's not surprising that even allies spy on each other. although two countries may be are allies, they are still suspicious of each other and would like to have wider source of info. hence spying each other.

[SpecOp9 0]

Is'nt America friends with Israel?

Some of Israel at least?

[GoOB 0]

Is'nt America friends with Israel?

Some of Israel at least?

Well yes... Hence why people have been asking themselves "Why spy on your allies?"

But personally I beleive Israel is worried about Americas stance on the issue with Palestina vs. Israel, and the ongoing war in Iraq.

[Ironsight 1]

Is'nt America friends with Israel?

Israel doesn't has any friends, they spie on the whole world. So why not on the USA

[belgerot 33]

News like this pisses me off, though I agree with you goOB

[Apollo 0]

Still i think for Israel's sake they would rather prefer G.W Bush to win the ellection's than Kerry.

Bush hasn't been exactly hard on Israel the last 4 years to push them towards peace talks ,something he actually prommised in the light of the war on terrorism.

[red oct 2]

it's not surprising that even allies spy on each other. although two countries may be are allies, they are still suspicious of each other and would like to have wider source of info. hence spying each other.

yea but Isreal has promised to end spying on the US 20 years ago, and now they do go ahead and start spying again. they have their own spy agency, what is it they want from us that they probaly don't already know?

[turms 0]

Quote[/b] ]yea but Isreal has promised to end spying on the US 20 years ago, and now they do go ahead and start spying again. they have their own spy agency, what is it they want from us that they probaly don't already know?

There was one israeli spy cought spying in the mid 90´s cant remember the name but will dig it up...

[Badgerboy 0]

Was it Pollard? If not it was a similar name.

[feersum.endjinn 6]

States do not have friends, only interests.

Everyone spies on each other, nothing new there. Someone goes to prison, few diplomats are thrown out of the country and everything goes on as usual.

[Ironsight 1]

Today in the Washington Post

Quote[/b] ]Leak Probe More Than 2 Years Old

Pro-Israel Group's Possible Role at Issue

By Susan Schmidt and Robin Wright

Washington Post Staff Writers

Thursday, September 2, 2004; Page A06

For more than two years, the FBI has been investigating whether classified intelligence has been passed to Israel by the American Israel Political Action Committee, an influential U.S. lobbying group, in a probe that extends beyond the case of Pentagon employee Lawrence A. Franklin, according to senior U.S. officials and other sources.

The counterintelligence probe, which is different from a criminal investigation, focuses on a possible transfer of intelligence more extensive than whether Franklin passed on a draft presidential directive on U.S. policy toward Iran, the sources said. The FBI is examining whether highly classified material from the National Security Agency, which conducts electronic intercepts of communications, was also forwarded to Israel, they said.

Full article

[Nemesis6 0]

If an allie spies on its closest allie, is it really spying? Don't know where I got that from, but I remember it from somewhere. Anyway, Jonathan Pollard spied on America for Israel and devulged information that America disclosed, like the position of an Iraqi nuclear reactor, now here comes the point - Israel destroyed the reactor with that information, and if Jonathan Pollard hadn't given that information to Israel, America could indeed have found WMDs(I actually used that abbriviation for once, I feel so American! :-)) in Iraq today. Also, consider what Iraq COULD have used it to(Hint, Yom Kippur, Gulf War?). Think about that.

Anyway, this isn't really that big of a deal. I think it'll blow over soon.

[theavonlady 2]

If an allie spies on its closest allie, is it really spying?

Yes. I don't even understand the question!

But no one has been accused of espionage, including Franklin himself. Franklin might only be hit with the misuse of classified documents . That's the same charge for which former Clinton National Security Advisor Sandy Berger is under investigation for his highly unusual activities with various documents prior to his testimony before the 9/11 Commission.

Franklin could also be charged with improper disclosure, an even less serious charge.

Franklin could also walk away scott free.

Why would someone leak this to the FBI after a year (or now they say two) of a silent running investigation, prior to making a single arrest or outright accusation? I wonder.......................

Quote[/b] ]if Jonathan Pollard hadn't given that information to Israel, America could indeed have found WMDs(I actually used that abbriviation for once, I feel so American! :-)) in Iraq today. Also, consider what Iraq COULD have used it to(Hint, Yom Kippur, Gulf War?). Think about that.

Check your dates.

Quote[/b] ]Anyway, this isn't really that big of a deal. I think it'll blow over soon.

With that, I agree.