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Washington DC, Monday, August 30, 2004Israeli
Lobbyist Denounces Spy Allegations
By Jonathan M
Katz
NEW YORK -- Bernice
Manocherian, president of the American
Israel Public Affairs
Committee, on Sunday
denounced as "outrageous" allegations that
members of her organization helped a Pentagon
analyst spy on the United States for
Israel.
Manocherian spoke at a Republican National
Convention event aimed at promoting ties between
American Jews and the GOP.
"These allegations are outrageous as well as
baseless," she said. "They will not dissuade us
from exercising our right
as American
citizens to be involved in the political
process."
According to U.S.
officials, the FBI has spent more than a year
investigating whether a Pentagon analyst
funneled highly classified material about
Iran to AIPAC, the main Israeli lobbying
organization in Washington, and whether that
group passed the information onto Israel.
Israeli officials also denied the
allegations.
Manocherian
praised President Bush, saying he had made
Israel safer by removing Saddam
Hussein from power in Iraq. She also warned
against the "existential threat" that Iran would
pose to Israel if it developed nuclear
weapons.
Also at the event, U.S. Senate Majority
Leader Bill Frist introduced a section of
the provisional Republican national platform
promising to protect Israel's ability to
"maintain a qualitative advantage in defensive
technology over any potential adversary." He
called Iran's nuclear program a threat to the
securities of Israel and the United States.
"I know AIPAC; I know the AIPAC leadership.
It's an outstanding organization," Frist told
the Associated Press. He said he was waiting for
the results of the FBI investigation.
Charges could be brought in the case as early
as this week, said two federal law enforcement
officials speaking on condition of anonymity
because the investigation is ongoing. The case
has taken so long in part because of diplomatic
sensitivities between the United States and its
close ally Israel, they said..
Alleged
Israel Leak a Burden for Rumsfeld
By ROBERT BURNS
WASHINGTON
-- The FBI investigation into
whether a Pentagon analyst passed classified
information to Israel is yet another political
weight on Defense Secretary Donald H.
Rumsfeld, still fending off criticism over
the Iraq war and prisoner abuse.
It is not clear whether the investigation
will result in charges of espionage at the
Pentagon. At the least, the probe complicates
Rumsfeld's position as congressional committees
that oversee the Defense Department prepare for
more hearings on the abuse scandal.
Rumsfeld has not commented publicly on the
FBI's investigation. While the FBI has spent
more than a year on the case, it only became
public Friday.
Officials,
speaking on condition of anonymity, say the
investigation is focused on Lawrence
A. Franklin, an analyst of Iranian
affairs who works in a policy office headed by
Douglas J. Feith, the undersecretary for
policy, right. Feith has been accused by
Democrats of seeking to manipulate intelligence
to help make the case for going to war in Iraq.
Congressional investigations have found no
evidence of that.
The New York
Times reported on its Internet site in a
story for Monday's editions
[August
30, 2004] that
government officials say Franklin had been
cooperating with federal agents for several
weeks and was preparing to lead them to
contacts inside the Israeli government when
work of the investigation, first reported by
CBS News, was leaked late last week.
The Israeli government has denied spying on
the United States.
Efforts to reach Franklin by telephone have
been unsuccessful. Local law enforcement
officers have kept reporters and photographers
away from his secluded home in rural West
Virginia, about a 90-minute commute from
Washington.
The Washington Post reported Sunday
that the FBI investigation has broadened to
include interviews with individuals at the State
and Defense departments as well as Mideast
affairs specialists outside the government.
Israeli officials predicted that the allegation
it got secret information on White House policy
toward Iran from the Pentagon analyst would
prove false.
Vincent Cannistraro, a retired CIA
officer and former director of White House
intelligence programs during the Reagan
administration, said Sunday, "It's another
scandal for the Pentagon," with the potential in
this case of going beyond the single individual
under investigation.
Larry Di Rita, Rumsfeld's chief
spokesman, said Sunday that the Pentagon is
sticking by its initial statement Friday that it
understands the investigation is limited in
scope. He said it would be inappropriate for him
or Rumsfeld to comment further because it is an
active investigation.
As for the possible political implications
for Rumsfeld at the height of a presidential
election campaign, Di Rita said, "I would not
try to predict how the political season will
affect this."
Early in his tenure at the Pentagon, Rumsfeld
spoke out publicly against the unauthorized
release of classified information. He undertook
a special investigation when some elements of
Pentagon planning for war in Iraq leaked to the
news media in 2002.
In his 3 1/2 years as secretary, Rumsfeld has
had a sometimes rocky relationship with
Congress. When the administration began a global
fight against terrorism in response to the
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, his stock rose
quickly and he gained popularity for his tough
approach.
But as the insurgency in Iraq took hold in
the summer of 2003 and the casualty toll for
American troops mounted -- more than 950 have
been killed -- Rumsfeld became a target of
criticism on Capitol Hill.
A Time magazine poll released Saturday
said 39 percent of those surveyed approve of the
job Rumsfeld has done and 37 disapprove. They
were split on whether President Bush should
replace Rumsfeld: 49 percent said Rumsfeld
should go and 48 percent preferred that he
stay.
Rumsfeld, 72, took much political heat when
the Abu
Ghraib prisoner scandal came to light in
April with photographs of U.S. soldiers abusing
and sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners.
Two official investigations found that the
highest levels of the Defense Department shared
blame for management lapses that may have
contributed to the problems at Abu Ghraib. But
those reviews found no evidence to suggest that
Rumsfeld ordered, encouraged or condoned any
abuse of Iraqis.
To the suggestion that Rumsfeld resign over
the abuse scandal, former Defense Secretary
James Schlesinger said last week that
such a development would be a "boon to all of
America's enemies."
Schlesinger headed an independent panel that
looked into the abuse. A second panelist, former
Defense Secretary Harold Brown, agreed that
Rumsfeld acted appropriately.
"If the head of a department had to resign
every time anyone down below did something
wrong, it would be a very empty Cabinet table"
Brown said.
That was just days before news broke of the
FBI investigation at the Pentagon.
Israeli Held
Meetings With U.S. Analyst
By Karin
Laub
JERUSALEM -- A senior Israeli
diplomat in Washington has met with a Pentagon
analyst being investigated by the FBI on
suspicion he passed classified information to
Israel, Israeli officials confirmed
Monday.
The officials, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said the meetings were well within
the norm of diplomacy and that no laws were
broken. Israel has flatly denied it has a spy at
the Pentagon.
The Israeli diplomat was identified as
Naor Gilon, head of the political
department at the Israeli Embassy in Washington,
and a specialist on Iran's nuclear weapons
program.
U.S.
officials say the FBI investigation focuses on
Lawrence A. Franklin, an analyst of
Iranian affairs who works in a Pentagon policy
office headed by Douglas J. Feith, the
undersecretary for policy. Feith has been
accused by Democrats of seeking to manipulate
intelligence to help make the case for going to
war in Iraq. Congressional investigations have
found no evidence of that.
The Israeli daily Maariv on Monday
quoted Gilon as saying that he did nothing
wrong. "My hands are clean. I have nothing to
hide. I acted according to the regulations,"
Gilon said.
The diplomat told Maariv he was
concerned that as a result of the reports, he
won't be able to continue working in Washington.
"Now, people will be scared to talk to me," the
newspaper quoted him as saying.
Newsweek magazine reported in this
week's edition that more than a year ago, the
FBI was monitoring a meeting between an Israeli
Embassy official and a representative of the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the
main Israeli lobbying group in Washington. At
one point, Franklin joined the two, according to
Newsweek.
Newsweek did not identify the Israel
diplomat, but Israeli media said it apparently
was Gilon. Israeli officials said Gilon has met
repeatedly with Franklin.
Newsweek,
citing U.S. intelligence officials, said that
Franklin on one occasion allegedly tried to
hand over a classified U.S. policy document
on Iran, but that the Israeli diplomat
refused to take it.
Maariv quoted Israeli sources as
saying that Gilon did not take documents from
Franklin, but had frequent meetings with
him.
Israel's Foreign Ministry declined comment.
The Israeli ambassador to the United States,
Danny Ayalon, told Maariv that
Gilon went by the book, and that "nothing was
done under the table."
The New York Times reported on its
Monday edition that government officials say
Franklin had been cooperating with federal
agents for several weeks and was preparing to
lead them to contacts inside the Israeli
government when work of the investigation, first
reported by CBS News, was leaked late last week.
Efforts to reach Franklin by telephone have been
unsuccessful.
On Sunday, Israeli Cabinet minister Natan
Sharansky said he believed the allegations
might stem from an internal conflict between the
Pentagon and the CIA.
"I hope it's all
a mistake or misunderstanding of some kind,
maybe a rivalry between different bodies,"
Sharansky told Canadian Broadcasting Corp.,
singling out "the Pentagon and the CIA."
American officials said the FBI has spent
more than a year investigating whether a
Pentagon analyst funneled classified material to
Israel.
The material described White House policy
toward Iran. Israel says Iran -- and its nuclear
ambitions -- pose the greatest single threat to
the Jewish state.
Sharansky
said the ban on espionage in the United States
dates to the scandal over Jonathan
Pollard, an American Jew caught spying
for Israel in 1985. "There are absolutely no
attempts to involve any member of the Jewish
community and any general American citizens to
spy for Israel against the United States," he
said.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office
issued a denial late Saturday, saying "Israel
does not engage in intelligence activities in
the U.S."
© 2004 The
Washington Post Company
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