Most of us first heard of Larry Franklin from a
story CBS broke last August: "CBS News has learned that the FBI has a full-fledged espionage investigation under way and is about to...'roll up' someone agents believe has been spying not for an enemy, but for Israel from within the office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon."
Pretty dramatic stuff. But as it turns out, there was more to the story than that. Quite a bit more.
Update May 4: Franklin arrested by the FBI.
[...]
As of March 27, 2005, "Franklin has not been called to testify before the grand jury, nor have there been significant discussions or even contacts about a plea or a resolution, according to sources familiar with the Justice Department's case against Franklin. 'Nothing is happening, and Franklin is back at work,' said a source familiar with the FBI's investigation."
On April 21, 2005, AIPAC "dismissed its two senior officials who are suspected of being involved in receiving and passing on classified information from the Pentagon to representatives of the State of Israel. The two are Steve Rosen, the organization's policy director and the most prominent AIPAC official, and Keith Weissman, who dealt with Iran."
"The two have been accused of receiving classified information from Larry Franklin, a Pentagon policy analyst on the Iran desk, and passing it on to official Israeli representatives with whom they met."
At this point, "federal prosecutors in Alexandria are considering filing criminal charges in the case, according to two law enforcement officials." "'Things are moving quickly,' one of the officials said in a recent interview. 'It is definitely moving closer to some conclusions.'"
[...]
"Some Washington insiders believe that the FBI's multiple stings are far from routine counterintelligence but represent a 'war' between the counterintelligence community and policymakers, especially neocons."
"One key insider explained the war this way: 'It is two diametrically opposed ways of thinking. The neocons have an interventionist mindset willing to ally with anyone to defeat world terrorism, and they see the intelligence community as too passive. The intelligence community sees the neocons as wild men willing to champion any foreign source -- no matter how specious -- if it suits their ideology.'"
"What adds a sharp edge to the Bush II ideological debate is the fact that the FBI is continuing an investigation of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, which, like the neoconservatives, is strongly supportive of Israel. The investigation appears to have touched some prominent neoconservatives who are friendly toward AIPAC."
"More than a half-dozen officials in the Bush administration who are apparently suspected of leaking classified information to AIPAC have had to retain defense lawyers."
"One neoconservative at the center of the counterintelligence war said: 'This is just the beginning. Nobody knows where this war is going.'"
Originally posted April 27
Spying for Israel from Inside the DoD?
Making the Federal Case Against AIPAC / Larry Franklin
Elbow | April 27
The Agonist - Most of us first heard of Larry Franklin from a
story CBS broke last August: "CBS News has learned that the FBI has a full-fledged espionage investigation under way and is about to...'roll up' someone agents believe has been spying not for an enemy, but for Israel from within the office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon."
Pretty dramatic stuff. But as it turns out, there was more to the story than that. Quite a bit more.
Update May 4: Franklin arrested by the FBI.
Laura Rozen
has more.
-
By ElBow in USA: Intel and Policy on Wed May 4th, 2005 at 10:40:58 AM PDT
The Lunch
In 2001 the FBI "discovered new, 'massive' Israeli spying operations in the East Coast, including New York and New Jersey...." The Times says that the FBI began "intensive surveillance on certain Israeli diplomats and other suspects," including Naor Gilon, chief of political affairs at the Israeli embassy in Washington.
Sometime in June, 2003, Mr. Gilon "was having lunch at a Washington hotel with two lobbyists from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) lobby group," when "suddenly,
and quite unexpectedly ... another American 'walked in' to the lunch out of the blue. Agents at first didn't know who the man was. They were stunned to discover he was Larry Franklin, a desk officer with the Near East and South Asia office at the Pentagon."
The two AIPAC lobbyists were "Steve Rosen, AIPAC's director of foreign policy issues, and Keith Weissman, an Iran specialist...."
At the lunch, "according to multiple sources aware of the prosecution's case", though he didn't give anyone a copy,
Franklin
shared information about "a classified Iran policy draft with an AIPAC staffer...."
In and of itself, this wasn't unusual. "Sharing of in-progress drafts with outside think-tanks and experts is common in Washington foreign policy-making circles." Except in this case, the FBI was watching.
The Sting
The FBI's probe of AIPAC "appears
to have intensified only after the FBI monitored a call between Franklin and reporters at CBS News in May 2004, in which he allegedly disclosed information about aggressive Iranian policy in Iraq."
"In the conversation with CBS, Franklin's remarks reportedly revealed sensitive intelligence intercepts, potentially compromising sources and methods of intelligence gathering, according to some sources aware of the call."
After this call, "the FBI's counterintelligence division, headed by David Szady, who also supervised the alleged campaign against Ciralsky, confronted Franklin, according to sources familiar with the case. Threatened with charges of espionage and decades of imprisonment, Franklin was deployed to set up a sting against AIPAC, the sources say."
"Under FBI pressure, Franklin agreed to feed AIPAC's Rosen and Weissman bogus
information about plans to kidnap Israelis in Kurdistan, the sources say. AIPAC officials reportedly passed that information to the Israeli Embassy in an attempt to save lives, sources say."
"Franklin also allegedly was directed to
sting a group of other Washington figures associated with the
controversial Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi, and with neoconservative circles."
"During June, July and August, Franklin, still apparently being directed by the FBI, made a series of calls to prominent personalities -- conversations that have been labeled by the recipients as 'weird,' 'curious' and 'totally out of keeping for Larry.' At least some of these calls were at the behest of Szady's counterintelligence unit, according to several sources, but it is not known which."
Going Public
On August 27, 2004, "FBI sources leaked details of the investigation to CBS News just as federal agents
executed search warrants for hard drives and files at AIPAC headquarters. That night, CBS News led with an explosive story about an Israeli mole in the government...."
"In the flurry of news reports that followed, the scope of the FBI investigation seemed
potentially enormous. Citing senior U.S. officials, The Washington Post reported that 'the FBI is examining whether highly classified material from the National Security Agency ... was also forwarded to Israel,' and that the investigation of Franklin was 'coincidental' to that broader FBI probe."
"On the Friday evening before the opening of the Republican national convention -- custody of the Franklin investigation was being transferred from the head of the FBI counterintelligence unit, David Szady, to U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty, a Bush appointee, in Alexandria, Virginia, as the case moved to the grand-jury phase."
"According to sources familiar with the investigation, the U.S. district attorney in charge of the probe, Paul McNulty, has ordered the FBI not to move forward with arrests that they were
prepared to make last Friday when the story broke on CNN and CBS. 'He put the brakes on it in order to look at it,' a source familiar with the investigation told the Sun."
"Mr. McNulty was onlyassigned the case by Attorney General Ashcroft last Friday when federal
agents came to AIPAC's offices in Washington to request files and hard drives. 'Ashcroft wanted to make sure this case was being handled properly,' the source familiar with the probe said. 'I would not expect any action on this for at least three weeks.' This source added that a grand jury is now being selected, but it was likely the charges, initially reported as espionage, would be scaled back to the mishandling of classified information."
"In early October, (Franklin) abruptly stopped working with authorities, dropped his court-appointed
attorney and sought the legal counsel of Plato Cacheris, a prominent
Washington defense lawyer who has represented numerous accused spies."
“When people ask me how they can help Israel, I tell them – Help AIPAC.â€
~Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
Prior to retaining Mr. Cacheris, "Franklin had been assigned a court-appointed attorney whose name was sealed under court
order, according to sources familiar with Justice Department filings in the case. That attorney advised Franklin to sign what sources familiar with the case termed 'a really terrible plea agreement' that would have subjected him to a very long prison term under the most severe espionage laws."
On December 1, 2004, "FBI agents made their first visit to AIPAC's Capitol Hill offices since August. Armed with a warrant, the agents seized computer files related to Rosen and Weissman and issued subpoenas to four senior officials at the lobby, requesting that they appear before a grand jury later this month in the Eastern District of Virginia."
"The
four are Howard Kohr, the group's executive director; Richard Fishman, the managing director; Renee Rothstein, the communications director; and Raphael Danziger, the research director."
The Continuing Investigation
Subsequent to the December FBI visit, "top officials at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) have appeared before a grand jury and two senior staffers have been placed on paid leave in the latest developments in the federal investigation of the pro-Israel lobby for allegedly passing classified information to Israel, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the case."
"At the same time, the Pentagon staffer at the center of the allegations, accused of espionage by the FBI and then pressured into an alleged FBI 'sting' against AIPAC, has been quietly rehired by the Pentagon, over the FBI's objections. Sources close to the investigation, while confirming these details, say they do not foresee an imminent resolution before AIPAC's annual policy conference, which begins May 22. Rumors that something might happen sooner have been swirling around Washington in recent weeks."
As of March 27, 2005, "Franklin has not been called to testify before the grand jury, nor have there been significant discussions or even contacts about a plea or a resolution, according to sources familiar with the Justice Department's case against Franklin. 'Nothing is happening, and Franklin is back at work,' said a source familiar with the FBI's investigation."
On April 21, 2005, AIPAC "dismissed
its two senior officials who are suspected of being involved in receiving and passing on classified information from the Pentagon to representatives of the State of Israel. The two are Steve Rosen, the organization's policy director and the most prominent AIPAC official, and Keith Weissman, who dealt with Iran."
"The two have been accused of receiving classified information from Larry Franklin, a Pentagon policy analyst on the Iran desk, and passing it on to official Israeli representatives with whom they met."
At this point, "federal
prosecutors in Alexandria are considering filing criminal charges in the case, according to two law enforcement
officials." "'Things are moving quickly,' one of the officials said in a recent interview. 'It is definitely movingcloser to some conclusions.'"
The Why
It is still not clear what or who the FBI was after. The investigation "has been muddled since initial reports in late August and early September said that investigators were probing whether a mid-level Pentagon official, Larry Franklin, passed information from a secret administration planning document on Iran to the lobby."
~jewishworldreview.com
What is clear is that the probe "goes well beyond allegations that a single mid-level analyst gave a top-secret Iran policy document to Israel, three sources familiar with the investigation said Saturday."
It "also has
focused on other civilians in the Secretary of Defense's office, said the sources, who spoke on condition they not be identified, but who have first-hand knowledge of the subject."
"In addition, one said, FBI investigators in recent weeks have conducted interviews to determine whether Pentagon officials gave highly classified U.S. intelligence to a leading Iraqi exile group, the Iraqi National Congress, which may in turn have passed it on to Iran. INC leader Ahmed Chalabi has denied his group was involved in any wrongdoing."
"The linkage, if any, between the two leak investigations, remains unclear. But they both center on the office of Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith, the Pentagon's No. 3 official."
Feith and The NeoCons
"Mr. Feith and the work done under him have been the focus of intense criticism over the past year as questions have mounted about the justification for the war in Iraq. Before the war, Mr. Feith created a small intelligence unit that sought to build a case for Iraq's
ties to Al Qaeda, an effort that has since been disputed by the Central Intelligence Agency."
"Questions have also
repeatedly been raised about work done by members of Mr. Feith's staff that skirted the normal bureaucracy." Larry Franklin "participated 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."
"What's going on is not all that clear. But it does seem to spell bad news for the neocons, since Franklin leads to Feith, a leading neocon (who has announced he will be leaving his post at the Pentagon). Perhaps that's why some neoconners--those pioneering cheerleaders of the war in Iraq--have been suggesting that the FBI used Franklin in a 'sting' operation to set up AIPAC."
Turf Wars
"Some Washington insiders believe that the FBI's multiple stings are far from routine
counterintelligence but represent a 'war' between the counterintelligence community and policymakers, especially neocons."
"One key insider
explained the war this way: 'It is two diametrically opposed ways of thinking. The neocons have an interventionist mindset willing to ally with anyone to defeat world terrorism, and they see the intelligence community as too passive. The intelligence community sees the neocons as wild men willing to champion any foreign source -- no matter how specious -- if it suits their ideology.'"
"What adds a sharp edge to the Bush II ideological debate is the fact that the FBI is continuing an investigation of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, which, like the neoconservatives, is strongly supportive of Israel. The investigation appears to have touched some prominent neoconservatives who are friendly toward AIPAC."
"More than a half-dozen
officials in the Bush administration who are apparently suspected of leaking classified information to AIPAC have had to retain defense lawyers."
"One neoconservative at the center of the counterintelligence war said: 'This is just the beginning. Nobody knows where this war is going.'"
Franklin Arrested This AM
Analyst Charged With Passing Iran Info
Mark Sherman | Washington DC | May 4
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.
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.
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