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FBI probing suspected israeli spy in pentagon { August 28 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/08/28/MNG5E8G4DJ1.DTLhttp://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/08/28/MNG5E8G4DJ1.DTL
FBI probing suspected Israeli spy in Pentagon
Top analyst may have passed secret papers on Iran
- Richard B. Schmitt, Mark Mazzetti, Los Angeles Times
Saturday, August 28, 2004
Washington -- The Justice Department has begun 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 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. policy-makers, 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 Feith, chief policy adviser to Defense Secretary Donald 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 U.S. secrets would be a major embarrassment for the Bush administration, especially coming just before the start of the Republican convention next week.
The sources said the Pentagon aide being scrutinized also has ties to Deputy Defense Secretary Paul 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 sought to play down the importance of the information that might have been wrongfully passed to Israel.
"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," the Pentagon said late Friday, referring to the Department of Defense. "Nor could a foreign power be in a position to influence U.S. policy through this individual.''
The Israeli government strenuously denied any impropriety. "We deny these allegations," said David Siegel, spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington.
AIPAC also denied wrongdoing and said it was cooperating with the investigation. "Any allegation of criminal conduct by AIPAC or our employees is false and baseless," the organization said.
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 Iranian 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.
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