Los Angeles Times
August 28, 2004
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has launched an espionage
investigation into whether a top policy analyst working for the Pentagon's
third-ranking official may have passed classified information to Israel through
a powerful pro-Israeli lobbying group, sources familiar with the probe said
Friday.
The investigation, being handled by the counterespionage
division of the FBI, is said to focus on an incident last year in which the
analyst allegedly turned over a presidential directive on U.S. policy toward
Iran to two people affiliated with the Washington-based American Israel Public
Affairs Committee, the sources said. Those two in turn may have given the
information to Israel.
Officials are concerned because the directive
that was transmitted was in draft form and still being debated by U.S.
policymakers, possibly putting the Israeli government in a position to
influence the final document, officials said. U.S. policy toward Iran is
important for Israel, which is concerned about Iran's potential nuclear
capabilities.
Moreover, investigators fear that the suspect — who
works for Douglas J. Feith, chief policy advisor to Defense Secretary Donald
H. Rumsfeld — also may have been in a position to compromise government
information about that country and the U.S. war effort.
The notion
of a trusted ally such as Israel betraying the U.S. by taking secrets would be
a major embarrassment for the Bush administration, especially coming just
before the start of the Republican National Convention next week.
The
sources said the Pentagon aide being scrutinized also has ties to Deputy
Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz, who, with Feith, was a key architect of
U.S. Iraq strategy. But the sources said there was no immediate evidence of
information having been compromised.
The Pentagon late Friday played
down the prominence of the official under investigation and the importance of
the information that might have been conveyed to Israel.
"DOD has been
co operating fully with the Department of Justice on this matter for an
extended period of time," a Pentagon statement said. "The investigation
involves a single individual at DOD at the desk officer level, who was not in a
position to have significant influence over U.S. policy. Nor could a foreign
power be in a position to influence U.S. policy through this individual. To
the best of DOD's knowledge, the investigation does not target any other DOD
individuals."
The probe, which has entailed FBI wiretaps and undercover
surveillance and photography, was first reported Friday by CBS News. Justice
Department officials declined to comment about the investigation, or on reports
that an arrest or arrests were imminent.
The official under suspicion
was described by senior Defense officials as a civilian employee and Iran
specialist working at the Pentagon's office of Near East and South Asian
Affairs. NESA is the office charged with setting the Pentagon's policy for the
entire Middle East. Before going to work for Feith, the analyst worked for the
Defense Intelligence Agency.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, NESA has had
the lead on war-planning for Afghanistan and Iraq, and for determining the
Defense Department's positions on Iraq, Syria and other volatile spots
throughout the region. The office is run by William J. Luti but falls
ultimately under the purview of Feith.
Luti ran the Pentagon's secret
Iraq war-planning shop known as the "Office of Special Plans" in late 2002 and
2003.
According to one senior Defense official: "This investigation
has been going on for some time. We were notified of it a long time ago and
have been working closely with the Justice Department."
Iran, which
has generated international worry over its potential nuclear capability, has
expressed concern in recent days that Israel or the United States may use
warplanes to destroy its facilities. In response to perceived threats, Iran
has boasted that its new generation of missiles could strike Israel.
The issue is further complicated by links between top civilians in the Pentagon
and Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi. Chalabi, a longtime ally of Wolfowitz and
Feith, has been investigated by American officials in connection with the
transmittal of U.S. secrets to Iran.
The contents of the U.S.
documents allegedly provided to Israel were not disclosed Friday.
The
Israeli government strenuously denied any impropriety.
"We deny these
allegations," said David Siegel, spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in
Washington. "The United States is Israel's most cherished friend and ally. We
have a strong ongoing relationship at all levels, and in no way would Israel do
anything to impair this relationship."
AIPAC also firmly denied
wrongdoing.
"Any allegation of criminal conduct by AIPAC or our
employees is false and baseless," the organization said in a statement.
"Neither AIPAC nor any of its employees has violated any laws or rules, nor has
AIPAC or its employees ever received information they believed was secret or
classified."
AIPAC, a large advocacy group, has been known to spend an
average of $1 million a year lobbying in Washington, although it makes no
campaign contributions in its own name.
"AIPAC is cooperating fully
with the governmental authorities," the organization said in a statement. "It
has provided documents and information to the government and has made staff
available for interviews. We will continue to offer our full cooperation and
are confident that the government will find absolutely no wrongdoing by our
organization and its employees."
AIPAC is considered one of the
capital's most astute and influential lobbying organizations, long maintaining
ties with top figures in the U.S. government.
AIPAC "has and will
continue to have discussions with policymakers at all levels of government,"
the group said in its statement, responding to reports about the investigation.
Allegations of improper sharing of classified m aterial with Israel
have cropped up over the years. But the only case of espionage was that of
Jonathan Jay Pollard, a former U.S. Navy intelligence officer who pleaded
guilty in 1986 to spying for Israel and was sentenced to life in prison.
The Pollard affair was a considerable source of political tension
between the U.S. and Israel. Pollard, who was awarded Israeli citizenship in
1998, remains in a U.S. prison.
Few espionage cases have reached
into the upper echelons of the Defense Department. The highest-profile cases
in recent years involved former FBI agent Robert Hanssen — who was
sentenced to life in prison in 2002 for accepting watches, diamonds and cash
for spying for Russia — and Aldrich H. Ames, a former CIA
counterintelligence official who pleaded guilty in 1994 to spying for the
Soviet Union and was blamed for the deaths of several U.S. agents.
Within the military, retired Army Reserve Col. George Trofimoff was sentenced
to life in prison in 2001 after he was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union
and Russia, passing photos of U.S. documents to foreign agents.
And in
1985, retired Navy Warrant Officer John A. Walker Jr. pleaded guilty to
passing secrets to the Soviet Union. His son, Navy Seaman Michael L. Walker,
22, also pleaded guilty to charges of spying for the Soviets. Two others were
convicted in connection with the spying.