FBI Probes Pentagon Spy Case
CBS News has learned that the FBI has a full-fledged espionage investigation under way and is about to - in FBI terminology - "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.
60 Minutes Correspondent Lesley Stahl reports the FBI believes it has "solid" evidence that the suspected mole supplied Israel with classified materials that include secret White House policy deliberations on Iran.
At the heart of the investigation are two people who work at The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a powerful pro-Israel lobby in Washington.
The FBI investigation, headed up by Dave Szady, has involved wiretaps, undercover surveillance and photography that CBS News was told document the passing of classified information from the mole, to the men at AIPAC, and on to the Israelis.
CBS sources say that last year the suspected spy, described as a trusted analyst at the Pentagon, turned over a presidential directive on U.S. policy toward Iran while it was, "in the draft phase when U.S. policy-makers were still debating the policy."
This put the Israelis, according to one source, "inside the decision-making loop" so they could "try to influence the outcome."
The case raises another concern among investigators: Did Israel also use the analyst to try to influence U.S. policy on the war in Iraq?
With ties to top Pentagon officials Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith, the analyst was assigned to a unit within the Defense Department tasked with helping develop the Pentagon's Iraq policy.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has been made aware of the case. The government notified AIPAC today that it wants information about the two employees and their contacts with a person at the Pentagon.
AIPAC told CBS News it is cooperating with the government and has hired outside counsel. It denies any wrongdoing by the organization or any of its employees.
An Israeli spokesman said, "We categorically deny these allegations. They are completely false and outrageous." The suspected spy has not returned repeated phone calls from CBS News.
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posted by R7 | 8/28/2004 01:22:00 AM
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FBI probes possible Israeli spy in Pentagon
August 27, 2004
WASHINGTON-- The FBI is investigating whether an aide to the Pentagon's No. 3 official acted as a spy for Israel, giving the Jewish state classified materials about secret White House deliberations on Iran, two federal law enforcement officials said Friday.
No arrests have been made, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.
The officials refused to identify the Pentagon employee who is under investigation, but said the person works in the office of Douglas J. Feith, the undersecretary of defense for policy at the Pentagon.
Feith is a key aide to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, working on sensitive policy issues, including U.S. policy toward Iraq and Iran.
The investigation centers on whether the employee in Feith's office passed secrets about Bush administration policy toward Iran to the main pro-Israeli lobbying group in Washington, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which then allegedly gave them to the Israeli government, one official said.
David Siegel, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, said: "We categorically deny these allegations. They are completely false and outrageous."
AIPAC spokesman Josh Block said that any allegation of criminal conduct by the organization or its employees is "baseless and false." He said the group "would not condone or tolerate for a second any violation of U.S. law or interests."
He added: "We are fully cooperating with the governmental authorities and will continue to do so."
The investigation was first reported Friday evening by CBS News.
President Bush has identified Iran as part of an "axis of evil," along with North Korea and the former Iraqi regime.
Pentagon officials refused to comment, referring all questions to the Justice Department.
Israel is one of the United States' strongest allies. Yet there have been espionage cases between the two countries in the past.
In particular, the case of Jonathan Pollard, a former naval intelligence officer who gave top-secret documents to Israel, has been a point of contention in U.S.-Israeli relations, with the Israeli government repeatedly pressing for his release.
Pollard was caught in Washington in November 1985, and was arrested after unsuccessfully seeking refuge at the Israeli Embassy.
A congressional aide declined to say if the Senate Intelligence Committee had been briefed on the case but said the panel is generally briefed on espionage cases.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CURT ANDERSON ASSOCIATED PRESS Advertisement
FBI investigating alleged Israeli spying: CBS
CTV.ca News Staff
CBS News reported Friday that the FBI believes an Israeli spy is operating at the very highest level of the Pentagon.
The FBI has been conducting an investigation into the potential espionage, the network said.
CBS News said it was told of wiretaps, undercover surveillance and photographic evidence documenting the passing of evidence from the spy to two people who work for the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
That group is considered to be a very powerful pro-Israel lobby group in Washington.
Those two individuals in turn passed the intelligence on to the Israelis, the network said.
CBS said according to its sources, the suspected spy -- who CBS didn't identify by name -- handed over a presidential directive on Iran while it was still in the draft phase. The sources said this put Israel "inside the decision-making loop" and could help them influence the eventual outcome.
Relations between Israel and Iran, a fundamentalist Islamic state, are obviously strained. An Iranian wrestler refused to compete against an Israeli at the Athens Olympics.
More seriously, however, is Iran's nuclear program, including the possibility it is trying to develop nuclear weapons.
Israeli officials have hinted of possible strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities (they destroyed Iraq's Osirak reactor in 1981). In return, Iran has said it would destroy Israel's Dimona reactor if that happened.
There has reportedly been some debate within the Bush administration on how hard a line to take against Iran, which Bush once described as part of an "axis of evil."
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has pushed the U.S. to adopt the hardline approach.
Besides Iran, investigators are also wondering if the Israelis used the mole to help influence U.S. policy on the Iraq war.
The mole is described as a "trusted analyst" at the Pentagon with ties to Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith, the undersecretary of defence for policy who played an instrumental role on the Iraq file.
The U.S. government told AIPAC it wants information about the two employees and their contacts with the Pentagon staffer.
AIPAC told CBS it is co-operating but denies any wrongdoing by either the organization or any of its employees. AIPAC has also hired outside counsel.
An Israeli government spokesman told CBS: "We categorically deny these allegations. They are completely false and outrageous."
CBS said it attempted to contact the alleged spy, but the person didn't return phone calls.
The Associated Press reported Friday an arrest could come next week.
While the U.S. and Israel have a close relationship, there has been at least one spying case come between the two countries.
Former U.S. naval intelligence officer Jonathan Pollard was arrested in 1985 on suspicion of passing top-secret documents to Israel.
He pleaded guilty to espionage and was sentenced to life in prison. Israel granted him honorary citizenship in 1998 and has pressed for his release.
Fears of Israeli spy in Pentagon
From correspondents in Washington
August 28, 2004
US authorities are investigating the case of a suspected Israeli mole working in the Pentagon in a position that may have had influence over American foreign policy.
The FBI is investigating whether a trusted Pentagon analyst passed sensitive White House policy documents on Iran to Israel, with the help of employees of a powerful pro-Israel lobby, the CBS News network reported. CBS quoted FBI officials as saying they believe they have solid evidence that the suspected mole supplied Israel with classified materials. The evidence was obtained through wiretaps, undercover surveillance and clandestine photography.
An Israeli spokesman told the network the allegations were " completely false and outrageous." CBS quoted sources as saying the suspected spy, described as a trusted analyst at the Pentagon, last year turned over a presidential directive on US policy toward Iran while it was, "in the draft phase when US policy-makers were still debating the policy".
This put the Israelis, according to one source, "inside the decision-making loop" so they could "try to influence the outcome."
Authorities have requested information about the two employees of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee - a pro-Israeli lobby in Washington - implicated in the case, CBS said.
AIPAC told CBS News it is cooperating with the government and has hired outside counsel. It denies any wrongdoing by the organization or any of its employees.
Agence France-Presse
FBI Probes if Official Spied for Israel
WASHINGTON - In a spy investigation that could strain U.S.-Israeli relations and muddy the Bush administration's Middle East policy, the FBI (news - web sites) is investigating whether a Pentagon (news - web sites) analyst fed to Israel secret materials about White House deliberations on Iran.
No arrests have been made, said two federal law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the continuing investigation. A third law enforcement official, also speaking anonymously, said an arrest in the case could come as early as next week.
The officials refused to identify the Pentagon employee under investigation but said the person is an analyst in the office of Douglas J. Feith, undersecretary of defense for policy, the Pentagon's No. 3 official.
The link to Feith's office also could prove politically sensitive for the Bush administration.
Feith is an influential aide to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld who works on sensitive policy issues including U.S. policy toward Iraq (news - web sites) and Iran. Feith's office includes a cadre assigned specifically to work on Iran.
He also oversaw the Pentagon's defunct Office of Special Plans, which critics said fed policy-makers uncorroborated prewar intelligence on President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s Iraq, especially involving purported ties with the al-Qaida terror network. Pentagon officials have said the office was a small operation that provided fresh analysis on existing intelligence.
The Pentagon said in a statement that the investigation involves an employee 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."
One of the law enforcement officials said the person was not in a policy-making position but had access to extremely sensitive information about U.S. policy toward Iran.
The investigation centers on whether the Pentagon analyst passed secrets about Bush administration policy on Iran to the main pro-Israeli lobbying group in Washington, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which then was said to have given the secrets to the Israeli government, one official said. Both AIPAC and Israel deny the allegations.
President Bush (news - web sites) has identified Iran as part of an "axis of evil," along with North Korea (news - web sites) and the Iraqi government deposed by the U.S.-led invasion last year.
Yet his administration has battled internally over how hard a line to take toward Iran. The State Department generally has advocated more moderate positions, while more conservative officials in the Defense Department and some at the White House's National Security Council have advocated tougher policies.
Israel, one of the United States' strongest allies, has worked behind its conservative prime minister, Ariel Sharon (news - web sites), to push the Bush administration toward more toughness against Iran. The Israeli tactics have raised questions whether inside information may have been used to try to influence U.S. policy.
David Siegel, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, said: "We categorically deny these allegations. They are completely false and outrageous."
AIPAC said in a statement that the lobbying group was "fully cooperating with the governmental authorities and will continue to do so."
It said any allegation of criminal conduct by the group or its employees was "baseless and false," adding that it "would not condone or tolerate for a second any violation of U.S. law or interests."
Pentagon officials refused to comment, referring all questions to the Justice Department (news - web sites).
The Pentagon investigation has included wiretapping and surveillance and searches of the suspected Pentagon employee's computer, the law enforcement officials said.
Israel and Iran have been in an increasingly harsh war of words in recent months. Senior Israeli officials have left open the possibility of an Israeli attack on suspected Iranian nuclear weapons development sites.
In response, Iran threatened last week to destroy Israel's Dimona reactor should Israel carry out such an attack.
In 1981, Israel destroyed a nuclear facility in Iraq after becoming suspicious that Saddam was developing a nuclear weapons capability.
Rep. Ike Skelton (news, bio, voting record) of Missouri, top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said he received information about the investigation before news of it became public Friday and was "deeply concerned and angered."
"This is a very, very serious allegation, and we just can't tolerate anything like this at all," Skelton said.
Despite the close U.S.-Israeli relations, this is not the first allegation of spying on Israel's behalf.
Jonathan Pollard, a former naval intelligence officer, was convicted of giving top-secret documents to Israel in the mid-1980s. He continues to be a point of contention in U.S.-Israeli relations. The Israeli government has repeatedly pressed for his release, but intelligence officials have called the information he passed to the Israelis highly damaging.
Pollard was caught in Washington in November 1985, and was arrested after unsuccessfully seeking refuge at the Israeli Embassy.
CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer
Israel at Center of Spying Probe
The Justice Department is investigating whether a top Pentagon analyst shared classified files on Iran. Israel denies any wrongdoing.
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 cooperating 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 material 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.
Richard B. Schmitt and Mark Mazzetti, Times Staff Writers
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