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Posted on Thu, Dec. 02, 2004 ESPIONAGE INVESTIGATION
FBI searches pro-Israel group's offices
Four top officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee were subpoenaed in the FBI's ongoing espionage probe. The lobbying group denied any wrongdoing.
BY WARREN P. STROBEL AND SHANNON MCCAFFREY
wstrobel@krwashington.com
WASHINGTON - FBI agents executed search warrants Wednesday at the headquarters of a leading pro-Israel lobby and delivered grand jury subpoenas in an ongoing probe of alleged espionage for Israel, federal officials and the lobbying group said.
The search and the subpoenas for four top officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee indicate that the politically charged investigation remains active. No criminal charges have been filed in the case.
AIPAC, one of Washington's most influential lobbies, said in a statement that neither the group nor its employees have broken any law.
''We are fully cooperating with the governmental authorities. We believe any court of law or grand jury will conclude that AIPAC employees have always acted legally, properly and appropriately,'' the statement said.
ADDITIONAL FILES
The lobby group said that the FBI, which in August obtained computer files related to two AIPAC employees, returned Wednesday ``and requested and obtained additional files relating to the same two AIPAC staff members and delivered subpoenas requiring the appearance of four senior AIPAC staff before a grand jury.''
U.S. officials previously have identified the two staff members as Steven Rosen, AIPAC's director of foreign policy issues, and Keith Weissman, his deputy and an Iran expert.
The two men have hired Washington lawyer Abbe Lowell to represent them. Lowell's firm, Chadbourne & Park, had no comment.
CLASSIFIED DOCUMENT
The FBI investigation, which has been under way for more than two years, became public in August with news reports that authorities were looking into the handling of classified information by Pentagon employee Lawrence Franklin. Current and former U.S. officials have said that authorities are investigating whether Franklin shared a highly classified draft presidential policy document on Iran with AIPAC staff members, who in turn passed it to Israel.
Investigators have interviewed people at the White House, State Department and Pentagon, the current and former officials said.
Franklin, an analyst in the office of Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith, hasn't been charged with wrongdoing.
The Israeli government has denied that it spied on the United States. Israel says all such activities were halted following the 1985 arrest of Navy analyst Jonathan Pollard, who later was convicted of selling U.S. secrets to Israel.
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