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Franklin expected to plead guilty { September 30 2005 }

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   http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/30/MNGHSF0D381.DTL

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/30/MNGHSF0D381.DTL

Guilty plea expected in leak of U.S. secrets
- Jerry Markon, Washington Post
Friday, September 30, 2005


Washington -- A Defense Department analyst accused of passing government secrets to two employees of an influential pro-Israel lobbying group is scheduled to plead guilty next week, court officials announced Thursday.

Lawrence Franklin, 58, will enter his plea in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., on Wednesday, the court said. It is unclear to what charges he is planning to admit, and any scheduled plea could collapse, even at the last minute.

Franklin is at the center of a long-running inquiry into whether classified U.S. information was provided to the government of Israel. The case has complicated relations between the United States and one of its closest allies.

An Iran specialist, Franklin first was charged in May with disclosing classified information related to potential attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq. A subsequent indictment last month expanded the allegations to say Franklin revealed national defense information to Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, former employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC.

Prosecutors say the three men were part of a conspiracy to obtain and illegally pass on classified information to foreign officials and reporters over a five-year period. U.S. government sources have identified Israel as the country at the center of the probe.

Franklin, of Kearneysville, W.Va., is charged with five counts and faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

Rosen, 63, of Silver Spring, Md., is charged with two counts related to unlawful disclosure of national defense information obtained from Franklin and other unidentified government officials. He was AIPAC's director of foreign policy issues and was instrumental in making AIPAC a formidable force in Washington.

Weissman, 53, of Bethesda, Md., faces one count of conspiracy to illegally communicate national defense information.

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Aipac lobbyists plead not guilty
American diplomat in baghdad implicated in spy case { August 18 2005 }
Counterintelligence investigates pentagon leak to israeli { September 3 2004 }
Espionage to help prepare israeli attack on iran { August 7 2005 }
FBI probes pentagon spy case
FBI probing suspected israeli spy in pentagon { August 28 2004 }
FBI questions israeli lobbyists in spy probe { August 31 2004 }
Fbi searches pro israel group offices
Franklin expected to plead guilty { September 30 2005 }
Israeli spying investigation grows
Pentagon analyst franklin returns to work
Pentagon official accused of spying for israel { August 27 2004 }
Pentagon official charged with passing secrets to israeli lobby { May 4 2005 }
Pro israel lobby group says fbi raided offices { December 2 2004 }
Wolfowitz questioned in spy probe

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