Israel and AIPAC Accused in Spy Case of Franklin, Pentagon Analyst

Pentagon analyst is guilty of spying for Israel
(Salt Lake City Tribune and NRC Handelsblad)

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A top Pentagon analyst pleaded guilty Wednesday to giving classified information to an Israeli diplomat and members of a pro-Israel lobbying group, saying he did it because he was frustrated with U.S. government policy on Iraq.

Lawrence Franklin, 58, a policy analyst whose expertise included Iran and Iraq, pleaded guilty to three felony counts as part of a plea bargain. In exchange, federal prosecutors dropped three other felony charges. It is agreed he will also preserve his pension rights. He faces up to 25 years of prison when he is sentenced Jan. 20, though he would likely serve less time if U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III follows sentencing guidelines.

Franklin said during the plea hearing that he was frustrated with government policy on Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia. So he leaked classified information to two directors of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). He said he hoped the two would provide the information to contacts of theirs on the National Security Council of Israel and possibly get the U.S. Middle East policy changed.

The council comprises top government officials who advise and assist the president on national security and foreign policies. At an earlier stage of the investigation, two Israeli ministers denied in public, that the Israeli diplomat ever met Mr. Franklin.

“It was never my intent to harm the United States, not even for a second,” Franklin said. He also admitted giving classified information to Naor Gilon, a political officer at the Israeli embassy, but said information that he received from Gilon was more valuable. It is the first time an Israeli diplomat inside the U.S. has been uncovered by a F.B.I. investigation. Naor Gilon has been transfered to another Israeli diplomatic post.

In court documents, prosecutors did not mention Gilon by name, but said he and Franklin discussed classified information on numerous occasions, including information about a weapons test conducted by a Middle Eastern country.

Franklin admitted that he met with Steven Rosen and Keith Weissmann, former officials of The US-Israeli Public Relations Committee (AIPAC) between 2002 and 2004 and a diplomat from the Israeli embassy nine times. Saying that he illegally kept classified documents in his house.

Franklin, of Kearneysville, W.Va., at one time worked for the Pentagon’s No. 3 official, policy undersecretary Douglas Feith, on issues involving Iran and the Middle East, and deputy undersecretary for the Middle East, David Satterfield. Franklin will cooperate in the FBI investigation and be a witness for the prosecution against the AIPAC directors.

The two AIPAC officials who allegedly received the information, Steven Rosen of Silver Spring, Md., and Keith Weissman of Bethesda, Md., also have been charged in the case. In fear of causing AIPAC further harm, the two officials were both fired last April. Both persons do not deny they have met with Franklin, bur considered these meetings as part of Washington DC networking.

“During the lunch, everyone in Washington is in discussion on policy with another person. The topics were no secret, as they have been published in the newspapers,” Rosen was quoted as saying in Ha’aretz.

Justice Dept. to Indict Two AIPAC Staffers under U.S. Espionage Act
Haaretz – by Nathan Guttman

WASHINGTON DC May 31, 2005 — The U.S. Justice Department is expected to file indictments against two former senior American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) staffers – Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman – and, according to sources familiar with the affair, the charges will be subsumed under the Espionage Act.

A Virginia grand jury is now examining the evidence in the case, which involved receipt of classified defense information from Larry Franklin, a Pentagon official, and its transfer to the representative of a foreign country, Naor Gilon, of the Israeli embassy in Washington.

Sources involved in the case confirmed that the Espionage Act is on the agenda. However, there is also the possibility that the Justice Department is raising the intention to use that law with the purpose of reaching a plea bargain concerning a lesser offense, albeit one that is still covered by anti-espionage legislation in the U.S.

Foreign Affairs & Defence Committee Chair:

Franklin’s Admission of Guilt Doesn’t Impact Israel

INN.com Israel – 10:12 Oct 06, ’05 / 3 Tishrei 5766 —
MK (Likud) Dr. Yuval Shteinitz, who chairs the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee, stated that the admission of guilt by Pentagon analyst Lawrence Franklin will not necessarily result in strained relations between the U.S. and Israel.

Franklin has pleaded guilty to three counts of improperly retaining and disclosing classified information, documents passed to two employees of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee).

Analysts in Israel state that a combination of the Pentagon/AIPAC affair and the advanced weapons sales to China which led to Defense Ministry Director-General Amos Yaron stepping down as a sacrificial lamb, will indeed result in strained relations between US and Israeli military officials. In addition, the China weapons affair has already resulted in a new set of rules pertaining to weapons sales to Israel.

Top War Profiteer Dough Feith Retires Wealthy
by Evelyn Pringle in Sierra Times

Douglas Feith, the recently resigned undersecretary of defense, who just happened to be one of the main people who for years on end advocated for a war in Iraq, and who in large part developed the disastrous policies for the war in Iraq, planned ahead for his retirement and will not be seen in the unemployment line.

Before Feith was inducted into the Bush administration, he was the Feith half of the Feith & Zell law firm in Washington. His partner, Marc Zell, simply renamed the firm Zell, Goldberg & Co when they decided to set up shop to start cashing in on the Iraq contracting business.

Israel Is Spying In And On The U.S.?
Fox News :: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4

BRIT HUME, HOST: It has been more than 16 years since a civilian working for the Navy was charged with passing secrets to Israel. Jonathan Pollard pled guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage and is serving a life sentence. At first, Israeli leaders claimed Pollard was part of a rogue operation, but later took responsibility for his work.

Now Fox News has learned some U.S. investigators believe that there are Israelis again very much engaged in spying in and on the U.S., who may have known things they didn’t tell us before September 11. Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron has details in the first of a four-part series.

[Published: 12/12/01 FOX News. Part 1 of a 4 part series: Part 2- Part 3 – Part 4
These items have since been removed from the FOX News web site: ]

• Chertoff allowed Israeli spies to return to Israel
• Chertoff biography – dual citizenship U.S. and Israel
• Bush’s Homeland Security czar Mike Chertoff and his days in New Jersey
• Architect of a post-9/11 policy to detain hundreds of Arabs indefinitely
• 911 Review and FEMA Update :: meant for ask …

Make No Mistake About Likud :: Sharon & Netanyahu!
Sun Aug 7th, 2005 at 02:05:22 PM PST

Rhetoric — content of speeches determined to win elections!
Schroeder – Sharon – Netanyahu

Deal Sharon made with Bush is to pull out of Gaza, in return the Israelis will remain in East Jerusalem and bleed the local Palestinians to move them out. The large settlements near Jerusalem on the West Bank will be enlarged and incorporated in Israel.

The former PM Netanyahu is a chickenhawk, political tactics for a power grab, he needs the extreme right religious parties in the future, so the basta** resigns when all policies have been set for withdrawal from Gaza.

It was Bibi who launched an hate attack and incitement to violence in 1994 which led to the assassination of Israeli PM Rabin, partner in peace with Clinton and Arafat. The chickenhawk is not worthy to be mentioned in same breath with his brother.

1994 – Plane Hijacks Intent To Use As Bombs

Fighting Terrorism ◊ by Israel former PM Bibi Netanayu –1996-

Such groups, I wrote then, nullify in large measure the need to have air power or intercontinental missiles as delivery systems for an Islamic nuclear payload. They will be the delivery system. In the worst of such scenarios, I wrote, the consequences could be not a car bomb but a nuclear bomb in the basement of the World Trade Center.

Well, they did not use a nuclear bomb. They used two 150 ton fully fueled jetliners, to wipe out the Twin Towers. But does anyone doubt that given the chance, they will throw atom bombs at America and its allies? And perhaps long before that, (they will use) chemical and biological weapons?

Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu – Biography

Future US Foreign Policy ◊ An Insight From Men of Power
G. Gordon Liddy Interviews Bibi Netanyahu
22 Oct. 2001 — The G Man in Israel

• U.S. Knew of Suicide Hijack Threat in 1995
• FBI Knew for Years About Terror Pilot Training