FBI suspects Israel has Pentagon spy
Fri August 27, 2004 09:12 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI is investigating a high-level Pentagon analyst who is suspected of being an Israeli spy who passed secret documents about Iran to the Jewish state, U.S. government sources say.
The officials told Reuters on Friday the analyst was connected to Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's office and allegedly passed the documents to Israel via the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the powerful pro-Israel lobby in Washington.
The sources declined to identify the suspected spy and said no arrests had been made and no charges brought. "No one has been charged," one government official said.
The Israeli embassy denied the allegations.
"They are completely false and outrageous," said a spokesman for the embassy who asked not to be identified and declined further comment.
Officials at AIPAC called the charges "baseless and false."
"We take our responsibilities as American citizens seriously. We would not condone or tolerate for a second any violation of U.S. law or interests," the group said in a statement. It said its members were "fully cooperating" with authorities.
CBS News, who first reported the story, said the alleged spy may have been in a position to influence Bush administration policy on Iran and Iraq. According to the network, one of the documents in question was a draft presidential directive on U.S. policy toward Iran.
The network said the analyst had ties to top Pentagon officials Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith, both regarded as leading architects of the war on Iraq.
"This put the Israelis -- according to one of our sources -- 'inside the decision-making loop' so they could 'try to influence the outcome'," CBS reported.
The network described the spy as "a trusted analyst" assigned to a unit within the Defence department tasked with helping develop the Pentagon's Iraq policy.
The United States is the main military, diplomatic and financial ally of Israel but relations were marred in 1985 when U.S. Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard was charged with spying for the Jewish state.
He was sentenced to life in prison and his case has become a cause celebre for some Jewish groups in the United States and his supporters in Israel. Top Israeli government officials have unsuccessfully pressed the United States to free him.
Fri August 27, 2004 09:12 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI is investigating a high-level Pentagon analyst who is suspected of being an Israeli spy who passed secret documents about Iran to the Jewish state, U.S. government sources say.
The officials told Reuters on Friday the analyst was connected to Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's office and allegedly passed the documents to Israel via the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the powerful pro-Israel lobby in Washington.
The sources declined to identify the suspected spy and said no arrests had been made and no charges brought. "No one has been charged," one government official said.
The Israeli embassy denied the allegations.
"They are completely false and outrageous," said a spokesman for the embassy who asked not to be identified and declined further comment.
Officials at AIPAC called the charges "baseless and false."
"We take our responsibilities as American citizens seriously. We would not condone or tolerate for a second any violation of U.S. law or interests," the group said in a statement. It said its members were "fully cooperating" with authorities.
CBS News, who first reported the story, said the alleged spy may have been in a position to influence Bush administration policy on Iran and Iraq. According to the network, one of the documents in question was a draft presidential directive on U.S. policy toward Iran.
The network said the analyst had ties to top Pentagon officials Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith, both regarded as leading architects of the war on Iraq.
"This put the Israelis -- according to one of our sources -- 'inside the decision-making loop' so they could 'try to influence the outcome'," CBS reported.
The network described the spy as "a trusted analyst" assigned to a unit within the Defence department tasked with helping develop the Pentagon's Iraq policy.
The United States is the main military, diplomatic and financial ally of Israel but relations were marred in 1985 when U.S. Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard was charged with spying for the Jewish state.
He was sentenced to life in prison and his case has become a cause celebre for some Jewish groups in the United States and his supporters in Israel. Top Israeli government officials have unsuccessfully pressed the United States to free him.
