Pentagon analyst charged with disclosing secrets

Pentagon analyst charged with disclosing secrets

 

05.05.05 1.00pm

 

WASHINGTON - A US Defence Department analyst has  been arrested on charges of disclosing top-secret information on potential attacks on American forces in Iraq to two employees of a pro-Israel lobbying group.

Lawrence Franklin surrendered to the FBI and faces charges of disclosing classified national defence information in 2003 to two individuals who sources said worked at the time at the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

The Justice Department, in announcing the case, said that Franklin, 58, faced a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Franklin, a Defence Department employee since 1979, worked on the Iran desk within the office of the secretary of defence at the time the government says he disclosed the information.

The criminal complaint and an accompanying FBI affidavit, filed in federal court in Virginia, said Franklin had lunch with the two individuals on June 26, 2003 at a restaurant in Arlington, Virginia, site of the Pentagon.

At the lunch Franklin disclosed classified information, designated top secret and related to potential attacks on US forces in Iraq, it said. Neither of the two recipients had the security clearance to receive that information.

Franklin told the pair the information was "highly classified" and asked them not to "use" it, according to the court documents.

The two individuals were not named in the court documents, but federal law enforcement officials said they were both senior employees that AIPAC dismissed last month - policy director Steve Rosen and senior analyst Keith Weissman.

"Steve Rosen never solicited, received, or passed on any classified documents from Larry Franklin and Mr Franklin will never be able to say otherwise," his attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement. Weissman뭩 attorney, John Nassikas, had no comment.

The Justice Department said its investigation was continuing. AIPAC declined to comment, but a source close to the lobbying group said it has been advised by the government that it is not a target of the investigation.

In Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told Channel One television Israel had no involvement in the case.

"Israel does not carry out any operation in the United States that would be liable, God forbid, to harm its closest ally. Therefore all the brouhaha around this matter has nothing to do with the State of Israel," he said.

The affidavit also said Franklin disclosed, without authorisation, classified US government information to aas released on bond after a brief court appearance in Alexandria, Virginia.

- REUTERS