| Alpha | | Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2004 10:26 am Post subject: White House--Israel spy investigation in 2001 |
| From: RePorterNoteBook@aol.com
Date: Sun, 5 Sep 2004 22:24:45 EDT
Subject: White House--Israel spy investigation in 2001
To:
White House said to have learned of Israel spy investigation in 2001
Pentagon analyst is focus of probe
By Curt Anderson, Associated Press | September 4, 2004
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/09/04/white_house_said_to_have
_learned_of_israel_spy_investigation_in_2001?mode=PF
WASHINGTON -- The FBI first briefed senior White House officials early
in the
Bush administration about a broad investigation into whether a major
pro-Israel lobbying organization was providing US intelligence
information to Israel,
officials said yesterday.
President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, and her
top
deputy, Stephen Hadley, were informed of the investigation on the
American Israel
Public Affairs Committee not long after Bush took office in 2001,
according
to two administration officials speaking on condition of anonymity
because of
the matter's sensitivity.
The exact date of the first briefing about the long-running
counterintelligence investigation was unclear but was probably at least
two years ago, the
officials said.
The timing suggests that investigators only recently began to focus on
Lawrence Franklin, a Pentagon analyst specializing in Iran and Middle
Eastern
affairs in the office of policy undersecretary Douglas Feith.
That part of the inquiry concerns whether Franklin passed a classified,
draft
White House directive to two AIPAC officials, who in turn allegedly
provided
it to the Israeli government.
Disclosure of the broader investigation raises a series of new
questions
about the case, including whether other AIPAC or Pentagon officials are
involved
or whether it reaches into the Israeli government. One senior official
at the
Israeli Embassy in Washington, Naor Gilon, has acknowledged meeting
with
Franklin but said he did nothing illegal.
No one has been charged in the case, which is expected to go before a
federal
grand jury as early as next week in Alexandria, Va. Franklin has not
responded to repeated requests for comment but was said by officials to
be
cooperating. Both AIPAC and Israel have denied any wrongdoing.
Another part of the investigation concerns whether Pentagon officials
provided information to Ahmad Chalabi, once a leading Iraqi politician
and prewar
Defense Department favorite, The Washington Post reported in
yesterday's
editions. FBI and Justice Department officials said they could not
confirm the account.
AIPAC and its allies have begun to mount a public relations campaign to
limit
the political damage.
The committee, long considered one of the most influential lobbying
groups in
Washington, said in a statement issued Thursday that its members should
contact members of Congress ''to continue expressing your strong
support" for the
group and for US-Israeli relations.
Larry Nussbaum, president of AIPAC's chapter in Kansas City, Mo., said
in a
separate statement that the investigation amounts to ''not only an
attack on
the organization itself, but on the Jewish community. AIPAC must prove
that
attacks such as this one will only make us grow stronger."
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