Larry Franklin - FBI arrested a Pentagon
analyst
Thu May 5, 2005 15:36
64.140.158.215
More info passed to pro-Israel lobbying group
May 4, 2005
WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI arrested a Pentagon analyst Wednesday on
charges that he passed classified information on Iran to employees of
a pro-Israel lobbying group.
all 542 related »
Larry Franklin, 58, of Kearneysville, W.Va., turned himself in
Wednesday morning, FBI spokeswoman Debra Weierman said. He was
scheduled to make an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in
Virginia later in the day, Weierman said.
======================
A Great Analysis:
Spies Or/And Victims
By: Hichem Karoui *
A Tunisian journalist and writer living in Paris.
His home page:
http://www.hichemkaroui.com
September 2, 2004
http://www.amin.org/eng/hichem_karoui/2004/sep2.html
The case of Lawrence A. Franklin, the Pentagon's official, recently
accused of espionage for the account of Israel, necessarily brings to
our minds the case of Jonathan Pollard, an American intelligence
analyst, who in 1985 was arrested and convicted of spying for Israel
too. The case is thus neither unique nor exceptional. And one cannot
but state that if the American Court did not find any evidence of
Pollard's guilt, it would never have sentenced him to spending the
rest of his life 'in the shade'¯.
Of course, the United States of America is the closest friend to
Israel, and the main funds' backer which finances the Israeli machine,
as everybody knows. Yet, theses facts seemingly do not prevent the
Israelis from spying and blackmailing the 'most cherished friend and
ally'¯, as M. David Siegel (Israeli ambassador to Washington) depicted
the relationship. America has always been attracting the Jews from
the entire world, and there is no other country on earth gathering the
same number of Jews except Israel itself. To be sure, America's
Jews are not all necessarily convinced Zionists. The fact is that many
Jews hate Zionism and consider it a big lie aiming at their
extirpation from their original countries. But Zionism - as Herzl
predicted - is nourished by the anti-Semitism and whenever the
pressure on the Jews increases anywhere in the world, their loyalty to
their countries becomes threatened by their attraction to Israel.
M. Larry Franklin is not Jewish, but he is accused by the FBI of
passing classified information to the Israeli government, related to
American policy toward Iran. Franklin has served as an Air Force
reservist in Israel, where he served also as a specialist in foreign
political-military affairs, and was reportedly based in the US Embassy
in Tel Aviv. He has been since working in the Pentagon's policy
offices, under the orders of M. Douglas Feith under-secretary of
defense for policy, and involved with regional strategic planning.
FBI officials have been quietly investigating for the last months
whether Franklin's connections with the Israelis were of a nature that
pushed him to pass some sensitive information, since it was known how
anxious the Israelis have grown about the Iranian nuclear business.
Franklin may be of a particular interest to them in this context. He
participated, for example, in secret meetings with Manucher
Ghorbanifar, an Iranian who had acted as an arms deal middleman in the
Iran-Contra affair during the Reagan administration. According to the
New York Times[1], the 'secret meetings were first held in Rome in
December 2001 and were brokered by M. Ledeen. He said he arranged the
meetings to put the Bush administration in closer contact with Iranian
dissidents who could provide information in the war on terrorism'¯[2].
As a matter of fact, the Iranian affairs have grown to be recently an
important issue of the struggle between Democrats and Republicans, as
are also usually the relations with Israel. Then, some political
aspects should be considered.
1 ' Franklin works under the responsibility of D. Feith. The latter
has been a target of Democratā€™s criticism since, as an element of a
study group of American Conservatives in the mid-1990s, he has urged
then Israel's Prime Minister, B. Netanyahu, "to abandon the Oslo peace
and reject the basis for them"¯. Then more recently, the Democrats
accused Feith of trying to manipulate intelligence to improve the Bush
administration's case for war against Iraq. However, House and Senate
intelligence Committee investigators found no evidence for the
accusations.
2 " During this presidential campaign, we see Democratic vice
presidential nominee John Edwards, charging the Bush administration of
abdicating responsibility for the Iranian nuclear threat to the
Europeans. M. Kerry first outlined the idea of providing nuclear fuel
to Iran in a speech in June - a proposal reportedly favored by many
Europeans- but Edwards, who twice described the concept as a bargain,
was more explicit in suggesting the Kerry administration would
actively try to reach an agreement with the Iranians.[3]
This is the political context of the Franklin's case. A context
apparently marked by an important debate inside the USA, as well as in
Europe (and with it), in Israel (and with it), about how to deal with
the Iranian nuclear program. Maybe this background suggests that Larry
Franklin is just a scapegoat in a game that bypasses him.
Nevertheless, there are other cases making his own not that amazing
for the investigators and the public as well. A little memory's
refreshing would perhaps help the understanding:
In 1985, U.S.-Israeli relations were rocked by two spy cases. Richard
K. Smyth was indicted in California for illegally exporting 800
Krytons to an Israeli company. Krytons are high-speed electronic
switches that can be used to detonate nuclear weapons. Israel claimed
that it was not aware of needed export licenses for the devices. Smyth
jumped bail in 1985 but was arrested by Spanish authorities in July 2001.
Smyth was extradited to the United States in November 2001, pleaded
guilty in December, and was sentenced to 40 months in prison in April
2002.
On November 21, 1985, Jonathan Pollard, a U.S. naval intelligence
employee, and his wife Ann Pollard were charged with selling
classified documents to Israel for $2,500 per month over an 18-month
period. The Israeli government said the spy network, headed by former
Israeli intelligence officer Raphael Eitan, was a renegade operation.
In March 1987, Pollard was sentenced to life in prison, and his wife
to two consecutive five-year terms. Four Israelis were also indicted,
including Israeli Air Force Col. Aviem Sella. Israel promoted both
Sella and Eitan, although Sella's command of a major air base and
promotion were rescinded after negative U.S. reactions. Israelis
continue to complain that Pollard received an excessively harsh
sentence. Ann Pollard was released in 1990, and moved to Israel where
she divorced Jonathan Pollard. Pollard was granted Israeli citizenship
in January 1996. It should be noticed also that Israel sought
Pollard's release as part of the 1998 Wye negotiations with the
Palestinians.
In addition to the Smyth and Pollard cases, U.S. Customs agents raided
three U.S. companies on December 12, 1985, to seize materials
describing a metallurgical process for tank guns that were being
transferred illegally to Israel. In another case, three Israelis were
arrested on April 22, 1986, for conspiring to sell arms to Iran. On
May 15, 1986, two Israelis were arrested in New York on another
weapons selling scheme. On July 8, 1986, U.S. Customs agents searched
three U.S. companies for information about a plan to transfer
technical information for cluster bombs to Israel. An Illinois company
said on August 8, 1986, that Israelis tried to steal data on aerial
reconnaissance cameras. Israel denied any connection with any of these
cases. In February 1997, an engineer at a military testing facility in
Michigan admitted that he had "inadvertently"¯ given classified
materials to Israel over a ten-year period. Press reports in early May
2000 said that Israeli intelligence had tapped into White House and
State Department communications, but a later FBI investigation cleared
Israel.[4]
Now, would the FBI dare to charge an American official without
evidence? This is the important question. The investigators have even
interviewed the under-secretary of state, Douglas Feith as well as M.
Paul Wolfowitz. Would they really make both men waste their time
without a sound argument?
Despite that, there are still strong defenders of Larry Franklin, not
only his stunned colleagues, but also personalities like Dennis Ross,
special envoy on the Arab-Israeli peace process in the first Bush
administration and the Clinton presidency. He said: "The Israelis have
access to all sorts of people. They have access in Congress and in the
administration. They have people who talk about these things..." [5]
M. Yval Steinitz, the chairman of the foreign and defense committee
in Parliament, is "100 percent confident - not 99 percent, but 100
percent- that Israel is not spying in the United States"¯.[6] And
this is, of course, what Sharon 's office says also. Thus, the
agreement is quite complete and harmonious between Steinitz and the
Israelis.
The fact is that he is perhaps not mistaken, since the activity of
AIPAC is quite legitimate whereas its connections to the Mossad cannot
be ignored. And as we know, the espionage is precisely an illegitimate
activity. Thereupon, how can we possibly reconcile between what is
legitimate and what is illegitimate? And since M. Franklin is
suspected and charged of passing sensitive classified information
about the US policy toward Iran to AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobby
group, which in turn is thought to have provided it to Israeli
intelligence, then the American justice Department should logically
suspend - first - the activity of AIPAC as being not conformed with
the law, so that the espionage charge becomes possible on these
grounds. Otherwise, even if it is true that Larry Franklin provided
AIPAC with classified information, what makes AIPAC innocent and he
guilty? The espionage crime is not an act that one can perform alone.
To be a real crime, it must involve at least three parties: 1) That
from which the information has been stolen (the victim: here the USA
government). 2) That for which the information has been stolen. (The
instigator or the buyer. Here the Israeli government, with AIPAC's
kind mediation). 3) The agent who stole the information (M. Franklin).
Without the existence of these parties, nothing can make a case worth
an investigation.
Now, we must be aware that we are here talking about a powerful,
legitimate organization (AIPAC), with 65 000 members in the USA. Who
among them, or among the American officials, ignore the relationship
between AIPAC and the Israeli intelligence? If they do - and they do -
where is the mistake? Is it lying with L. Franklin who, like many
other American officials, deals with AIPAC and give and take
information? Or is it lying with AIPAC, which takes what it is
given and passes it to the Israeli boss? Or is it rather lying with
the American government, which knows very well what are AIPAC's
activities and aims, and tries to play the part of the naive and
claims to be surprised?
Either some party is fooling the others, or they are, all of them,
fooling each other. And like so many cases of this kind, we see rarely
any party acknowledging its mistakes and recognizing its crimes,
because in the espionage world there are neither responsibilities nor
responsible people, neither chiefs nor subordinates, and most of all
nobody knows the other when they are discovered. They may be working
together, hand in hand, for years, but in total darkness. That's why,
when someone switch on the lights, and they see each other and what
they have just been doing, they run away and deny everything. And
while trying to repair the unredeemable, they may sometimes need a
scapegoat. Thus, anyone of them - rarely the powerful, though - may
pass from the status of agent in activity to that of victim in custody.
NOTES:
[1] James Risen. FBI said to reach official suspected of passing
secrets. New York Times. Aug. 29, 2004.
[2] Idem. M. Michael Ledeen, a conservative scholar at the American
Enterprise Institute, is a friend of Franklin.
[3] Glenn Kessler and Robin Wright. Edwards : Kerry would offer Iran
nuke "bargain". The Washington Post; Aug. 30, 2004.
[4] See: Israeli-United States Relations. CRS report. Clyde Mark. July
9, 2004.
[5] T. E. Ricks and R.Wright. Analyst who is target of probe went to
Israel. Washington Post. Aug.29.2004.
[6] Declaration to the New York Times. Aug.29, 2004. Steven Erlanger.
Israel Denies Spying Against U.S.
A Tunisian journalist and writer living in Paris.
His home page: http://www.hichemkaroui.com
===
FBI questions ex-Mossad official in AIPAC probe
May. 2, 2005
Jerusalem Post
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1115000578317
FBI agents questioned former Mossad senior official Uzi Arad, he said
Monday, as part of the ongoing investigation into whether classified
US material about Iran was improperly passed on to Israel.
Arad said that during a recent trip to the US he was asked about his
connections to Defense Department analyst Larry Franklin, who is
suspected of passing information on Iran to AIPAC, the main pro-Israel
lobbying organization in the United States.
The FBI "wanted to clear up a number of questions. I was traveling
through the US and I agreed to come and talk to them," Arad told
Israel TV.
Arad said the FBI questioned him because his name had come up three
times in connection with Franklin, who works on issues involving Iran
and the Middle East.
Both Israel and AIPAC have denied any wrongdoing, and Franklin has not
commented on the reports.
Arad said he asked the FBI agents whether charges would be brought
against Franklin and was told only that "he has legal troubles."
================
Pentagon Analyst Larry Franklin Finally Arrested For Passing Data ...
Blogger News Network - May 4, 2005
... Larry Franklin, 58, of Kearneysville, W. Va., turned himself in Wednesday morning, FBI spokeswoman Debra Weierman said. He was scheduled ...
FBI charges Pentagon analyst in AIPAC affair Ha'aretz
Cloud put over group AZ Central.com
Pentagon analyst charged with telling secrets to pro-Israel group Winston-Salem Journal
Ynetnews - Voice of America -
all 542 related »
=============================
Last update - 04:24 31/08/2004
Shalom: Mole affair is exaggerated 'media nonsense'
By Nathan Guttman, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and Agencies
Officials confirmed Monday that a senior Israeli diplomat in Washington met several times with Larry Franklin, a Pentagon analyst being investigated by the FBI on suspicion he passed classified information on Iran to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Advertisement
However, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom - denying allegations of espionage - said such meetings are commonplace and the two governments routinely share secrets.
"Israel and the United States have intimate ties ... and the information being exchanged is much more classified than any conversation that may have taken place," Shalom told a joint news conference with his German counterpart, Joschka Fischer.
The Israeli diplomat was identified as Naor Gilon, head of the political department at Israel's embassy in Washington, and a specialist on nuclear weapons proliferation. Israel says Iran and its nuclear ambitions pose the greatest threat to the Jewish state.
Shalom did not mention Gilon by name, but when asked about contacts between Gilon and Franklin did not deny they had taken place.
A statement issued after the weekly cabinet meeting said that "in discuss
May 4, 2005
WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI arrested a Pentagon analyst Wednesday on
charges that he passed classified information on Iran to employees of
a pro-Israel lobbying group.
all 542 related »
Larry Franklin, 58, of Kearneysville, W.Va., turned himself in
Wednesday morning, FBI spokeswoman Debra Weierman said. He was
scheduled to make an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in
Virginia later in the day, Weierman said.
======================
A Great Analysis:
Spies Or/And Victims
By: Hichem Karoui *
A Tunisian journalist and writer living in Paris.
His home page:
http://www.hichemkaroui.com
September 2, 2004
http://www.amin.org/eng/hichem_karoui/2004/sep2.html
The case of Lawrence A. Franklin, the Pentagon's official, recently
accused of espionage for the account of Israel, necessarily brings to
our minds the case of Jonathan Pollard, an American intelligence
analyst, who in 1985 was arrested and convicted of spying for Israel
too. The case is thus neither unique nor exceptional. And one cannot
but state that if the American Court did not find any evidence of
Pollard's guilt, it would never have sentenced him to spending the
rest of his life 'in the shade'¯.
Of course, the United States of America is the closest friend to
Israel, and the main funds' backer which finances the Israeli machine,
as everybody knows. Yet, theses facts seemingly do not prevent the
Israelis from spying and blackmailing the 'most cherished friend and
ally'¯, as M. David Siegel (Israeli ambassador to Washington) depicted
the relationship. America has always been attracting the Jews from
the entire world, and there is no other country on earth gathering the
same number of Jews except Israel itself. To be sure, America's
Jews are not all necessarily convinced Zionists. The fact is that many
Jews hate Zionism and consider it a big lie aiming at their
extirpation from their original countries. But Zionism - as Herzl
predicted - is nourished by the anti-Semitism and whenever the
pressure on the Jews increases anywhere in the world, their loyalty to
their countries becomes threatened by their attraction to Israel.
M. Larry Franklin is not Jewish, but he is accused by the FBI of
passing classified information to the Israeli government, related to
American policy toward Iran. Franklin has served as an Air Force
reservist in Israel, where he served also as a specialist in foreign
political-military affairs, and was reportedly based in the US Embassy
in Tel Aviv. He has been since working in the Pentagon's policy
offices, under the orders of M. Douglas Feith under-secretary of
defense for policy, and involved with regional strategic planning.
FBI officials have been quietly investigating for the last months
whether Franklin's connections with the Israelis were of a nature that
pushed him to pass some sensitive information, since it was known how
anxious the Israelis have grown about the Iranian nuclear business.
Franklin may be of a particular interest to them in this context. He
participated, for example, in secret meetings with Manucher
Ghorbanifar, an Iranian who had acted as an arms deal middleman in the
Iran-Contra affair during the Reagan administration. According to the
New York Times[1], the 'secret meetings were first held in Rome in
December 2001 and were brokered by M. Ledeen. He said he arranged the
meetings to put the Bush administration in closer contact with Iranian
dissidents who could provide information in the war on terrorism'¯[2].
As a matter of fact, the Iranian affairs have grown to be recently an
important issue of the struggle between Democrats and Republicans, as
are also usually the relations with Israel. Then, some political
aspects should be considered.
1 ' Franklin works under the responsibility of D. Feith. The latter
has been a target of Democratā€™s criticism since, as an element of a
study group of American Conservatives in the mid-1990s, he has urged
then Israel's Prime Minister, B. Netanyahu, "to abandon the Oslo peace
and reject the basis for them"¯. Then more recently, the Democrats
accused Feith of trying to manipulate intelligence to improve the Bush
administration's case for war against Iraq. However, House and Senate
intelligence Committee investigators found no evidence for the
accusations.
2 " During this presidential campaign, we see Democratic vice
presidential nominee John Edwards, charging the Bush administration of
abdicating responsibility for the Iranian nuclear threat to the
Europeans. M. Kerry first outlined the idea of providing nuclear fuel
to Iran in a speech in June - a proposal reportedly favored by many
Europeans- but Edwards, who twice described the concept as a bargain,
was more explicit in suggesting the Kerry administration would
actively try to reach an agreement with the Iranians.[3]
This is the political context of the Franklin's case. A context
apparently marked by an important debate inside the USA, as well as in
Europe (and with it), in Israel (and with it), about how to deal with
the Iranian nuclear program. Maybe this background suggests that Larry
Franklin is just a scapegoat in a game that bypasses him.
Nevertheless, there are other cases making his own not that amazing
for the investigators and the public as well. A little memory's
refreshing would perhaps help the understanding:
In 1985, U.S.-Israeli relations were rocked by two spy cases. Richard
K. Smyth was indicted in California for illegally exporting 800
Krytons to an Israeli company. Krytons are high-speed electronic
switches that can be used to detonate nuclear weapons. Israel claimed
that it was not aware of needed export licenses for the devices. Smyth
jumped bail in 1985 but was arrested by Spanish authorities in July 2001.
Smyth was extradited to the United States in November 2001, pleaded
guilty in December, and was sentenced to 40 months in prison in April
2002.
On November 21, 1985, Jonathan Pollard, a U.S. naval intelligence
employee, and his wife Ann Pollard were charged with selling
classified documents to Israel for $2,500 per month over an 18-month
period. The Israeli government said the spy network, headed by former
Israeli intelligence officer Raphael Eitan, was a renegade operation.
In March 1987, Pollard was sentenced to life in prison, and his wife
to two consecutive five-year terms. Four Israelis were also indicted,
including Israeli Air Force Col. Aviem Sella. Israel promoted both
Sella and Eitan, although Sella's command of a major air base and
promotion were rescinded after negative U.S. reactions. Israelis
continue to complain that Pollard received an excessively harsh
sentence. Ann Pollard was released in 1990, and moved to Israel where
she divorced Jonathan Pollard. Pollard was granted Israeli citizenship
in January 1996. It should be noticed also that Israel sought
Pollard's release as part of the 1998 Wye negotiations with the
Palestinians.
In addition to the Smyth and Pollard cases, U.S. Customs agents raided
three U.S. companies on December 12, 1985, to seize materials
describing a metallurgical process for tank guns that were being
transferred illegally to Israel. In another case, three Israelis were
arrested on April 22, 1986, for conspiring to sell arms to Iran. On
May 15, 1986, two Israelis were arrested in New York on another
weapons selling scheme. On July 8, 1986, U.S. Customs agents searched
three U.S. companies for information about a plan to transfer
technical information for cluster bombs to Israel. An Illinois company
said on August 8, 1986, that Israelis tried to steal data on aerial
reconnaissance cameras. Israel denied any connection with any of these
cases. In February 1997, an engineer at a military testing facility in
Michigan admitted that he had "inadvertently"¯ given classified
materials to Israel over a ten-year period. Press reports in early May
2000 said that Israeli intelligence had tapped into White House and
State Department communications, but a later FBI investigation cleared
Israel.[4]
Now, would the FBI dare to charge an American official without
evidence? This is the important question. The investigators have even
interviewed the under-secretary of state, Douglas Feith as well as M.
Paul Wolfowitz. Would they really make both men waste their time
without a sound argument?
Despite that, there are still strong defenders of Larry Franklin, not
only his stunned colleagues, but also personalities like Dennis Ross,
special envoy on the Arab-Israeli peace process in the first Bush
administration and the Clinton presidency. He said: "The Israelis have
access to all sorts of people. They have access in Congress and in the
administration. They have people who talk about these things..." [5]
M. Yval Steinitz, the chairman of the foreign and defense committee
in Parliament, is "100 percent confident - not 99 percent, but 100
percent- that Israel is not spying in the United States"¯.[6] And
this is, of course, what Sharon 's office says also. Thus, the
agreement is quite complete and harmonious between Steinitz and the
Israelis.
The fact is that he is perhaps not mistaken, since the activity of
AIPAC is quite legitimate whereas its connections to the Mossad cannot
be ignored. And as we know, the espionage is precisely an illegitimate
activity. Thereupon, how can we possibly reconcile between what is
legitimate and what is illegitimate? And since M. Franklin is
suspected and charged of passing sensitive classified information
about the US policy toward Iran to AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobby
group, which in turn is thought to have provided it to Israeli
intelligence, then the American justice Department should logically
suspend - first - the activity of AIPAC as being not conformed with
the law, so that the espionage charge becomes possible on these
grounds. Otherwise, even if it is true that Larry Franklin provided
AIPAC with classified information, what makes AIPAC innocent and he
guilty? The espionage crime is not an act that one can perform alone.
To be a real crime, it must involve at least three parties: 1) That
from which the information has been stolen (the victim: here the USA
government). 2) That for which the information has been stolen. (The
instigator or the buyer. Here the Israeli government, with AIPAC's
kind mediation). 3) The agent who stole the information (M. Franklin).
Without the existence of these parties, nothing can make a case worth
an investigation.
Now, we must be aware that we are here talking about a powerful,
legitimate organization (AIPAC), with 65 000 members in the USA. Who
among them, or among the American officials, ignore the relationship
between AIPAC and the Israeli intelligence? If they do - and they do -
where is the mistake? Is it lying with L. Franklin who, like many
other American officials, deals with AIPAC and give and take
information? Or is it lying with AIPAC, which takes what it is
given and passes it to the Israeli boss? Or is it rather lying with
the American government, which knows very well what are AIPAC's
activities and aims, and tries to play the part of the naive and
claims to be surprised?
Either some party is fooling the others, or they are, all of them,
fooling each other. And like so many cases of this kind, we see rarely
any party acknowledging its mistakes and recognizing its crimes,
because in the espionage world there are neither responsibilities nor
responsible people, neither chiefs nor subordinates, and most of all
nobody knows the other when they are discovered. They may be working
together, hand in hand, for years, but in total darkness. That's why,
when someone switch on the lights, and they see each other and what
they have just been doing, they run away and deny everything. And
while trying to repair the unredeemable, they may sometimes need a
scapegoat. Thus, anyone of them - rarely the powerful, though - may
pass from the status of agent in activity to that of victim in custody.
NOTES:
[1] James Risen. FBI said to reach official suspected of passing
secrets. New York Times. Aug. 29, 2004.
[2] Idem. M. Michael Ledeen, a conservative scholar at the American
Enterprise Institute, is a friend of Franklin.
[3] Glenn Kessler and Robin Wright. Edwards : Kerry would offer Iran
nuke "bargain". The Washington Post; Aug. 30, 2004.
[4] See: Israeli-United States Relations. CRS report. Clyde Mark. July
9, 2004.
[5] T. E. Ricks and R.Wright. Analyst who is target of probe went to
Israel. Washington Post. Aug.29.2004.
[6] Declaration to the New York Times. Aug.29, 2004. Steven Erlanger.
Israel Denies Spying Against U.S.
A Tunisian journalist and writer living in Paris.
His home page: http://www.hichemkaroui.com
===
FBI questions ex-Mossad official in AIPAC probe
May. 2, 2005
Jerusalem Post
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1115000578317
FBI agents questioned former Mossad senior official Uzi Arad, he said
Monday, as part of the ongoing investigation into whether classified
US material about Iran was improperly passed on to Israel.
Arad said that during a recent trip to the US he was asked about his
connections to Defense Department analyst Larry Franklin, who is
suspected of passing information on Iran to AIPAC, the main pro-Israel
lobbying organization in the United States.
The FBI "wanted to clear up a number of questions. I was traveling
through the US and I agreed to come and talk to them," Arad told
Israel TV.
Arad said the FBI questioned him because his name had come up three
times in connection with Franklin, who works on issues involving Iran
and the Middle East.
Both Israel and AIPAC have denied any wrongdoing, and Franklin has not
commented on the reports.
Arad said he asked the FBI agents whether charges would be brought
against Franklin and was told only that "he has legal troubles."
================
Pentagon Analyst Larry Franklin Finally Arrested For Passing Data ...
Blogger News Network - May 4, 2005
... Larry Franklin, 58, of Kearneysville, W. Va., turned himself in Wednesday morning, FBI spokeswoman Debra Weierman said. He was scheduled ...
FBI charges Pentagon analyst in AIPAC affair Ha'aretz
Cloud put over group AZ Central.com
Pentagon analyst charged with telling secrets to pro-Israel group Winston-Salem Journal
Ynetnews - Voice of America -
all 542 related »
=============================
Last update - 04:24 31/08/2004
Shalom: Mole affair is exaggerated 'media nonsense'
By Nathan Guttman, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and Agencies
Officials confirmed Monday that a senior Israeli diplomat in Washington met several times with Larry Franklin, a Pentagon analyst being investigated by the FBI on suspicion he passed classified information on Iran to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Advertisement
However, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom - denying allegations of espionage - said such meetings are commonplace and the two governments routinely share secrets.
"Israel and the United States have intimate ties ... and the information being exchanged is much more classified than any conversation that may have taken place," Shalom told a joint news conference with his German counterpart, Joschka Fischer.
The Israeli diplomat was identified as Naor Gilon, head of the political department at Israel's embassy in Washington, and a specialist on nuclear weapons proliferation. Israel says Iran and its nuclear ambitions pose the greatest threat to the Jewish state.
Shalom did not mention Gilon by name, but when asked about contacts between Gilon and Franklin did not deny they had taken place.
A statement issued after the weekly cabinet meeting said that "in discuss
Message Board by American Patriot Friends Network [APFN]
