Pro-Israel lobbyists charged in Pentagon case

By James Vicini

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Reuters) - Two former officials of the pro-
Israel lobbying group AIPAC were charged on Thursday with conspiring with a
Pentagon analyst to obtain and disclose classified national defense information, U.S. prosecutors said.

They said the indictment charges Steven Rosen, 63, the former foreign policy director for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, with conspiracy to communicate national defense information provided by analyst Lawrence Franklin.

Rosen was also accused of helping Franklin pass on written classified information. AIPAC’s former senior Middle East analyst, Keith Weissman, 53, also was charged with conspiracy to communicate national defense information, prosecutors said.

The defendants disclosed the classified information to several members of the media, a senior fellow at a Washington, D.C., think tank and at least three foreign government officials, according to the indictment.

Although the indictment did not identify any of the recipients, sources said they included officials who worked at the Israeli embassy.

Franklin, 58, who worked on the
Iran desk within the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the time the government says he disclosed the information, had already been charged with disclosing top-secret information about potential attacks on U.S. forces in
Iraq to the two AIPAC employees.

He has also been charged with giving the information to an unidentified diplomat and to Rosen and Weissman, whom AIPAC fired in April after having defended their conduct last year.

The indictment accuses Franklin of disclosing to a foreign diplomat classified information about a Middle Eastern country’s activities in Iraq.

It said between August 2002 and June 2004, Franklin also gave the diplomat classified information relating to a weapons test conducted by a Middle Eastern country.

Sources familiar with the investigation have said the diplomat was an Israeli.

Franklin pleaded not guilty to the original charges.

Abbe Lowell, attorney for Rosen, said the charges were unjustified.

"We expect that the trial will show that this prosecution represents a misguided attempt to criminalize the public’s right to participate in the political process," Lowell said.

Weissman’s attorney, John Nissikas, said in a statement, "We are disappointed that the government has decided to pursue these charges, which Mr. Weissman strongly denies."

AIPAC, which last year defended the conduct of Rosen and Weissman, issued a statement on Thursday saying it could not "condone or tolerate the conduct of the two employees under any circumstances."

"AIPAC dismissed Rosen and Weissman because they engaged in conduct that was not part of their jobs and because this conduct did not comport in any way with the standards that AIPAC expects of its employees," AIPAC spokesman Patrick Dorton said.

The Israeli diplomat in Washington who met several times with Franklin has been identified by officials as Naor Gilon, head of the political department at the Israeli Embassy in Washington and a specialist on proliferation issues.

Gilon returned to Israel a few days ago as part of a long-scheduled rotation, according to an Israeli official in Washington.

Israeli embassy spokesman David Siegel said Israel’s diplomats in Washington "conduct themselves professionally and in full keeping with diplomatic practices."

"We have no information to suggest anything to the contrary," Siegel said, adding that "there would be no reason for any wrongdoing on the part of our diplomats" because the United States and Israel already exchange national security information.

U.S. investigators want to question Gilon and other Israeli diplomats about their contacts with Franklin. "We’ve been approached and we’ve expressed our willingness to cooperate," Siegel said.

Franklin faces a maximum sentence of 45 years if convicted on all counts, while Rosen faces a maximum sentence of 20 years and Weissman faces 10 years in prison, prosecutors said.

An arraignment for the three defendants has been scheduled for Aug. 16, they said.

U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty told a news conference that the defendants sought to acquire and disclose the information to advance their foreign policy agenda and their own careers.

"When it comes to classified information, there is a clear line in the law. Today’s charges are about crossing that line," said.

"Those entrusted with safeguarding our nation’s secrets must remain faithful to that trust. Those not authorized to receive classified information must resist the temptation to acquire it, no matter what their motivation may be," he said.

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