Pentagon analyst linked to disclosures
WASHINGTON – A Pentagon policy analyst, under investigation for passing U.S. secrets to Israel, was arrested Wednesday and charged with disclosing classified information about U.S. troops in Iraq to two former members of an influential pro-Israel lobbying group, the Justice Department said.
A criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday against Lawrence A. Franklin, 58, an Iran specialist and Defense Department employee since 1979, also alleges that he made unauthorized disclosures to a “foreign official” and to unidentified members of the news media.
Franklin also was charged with storing dozens of other classified documents – with dates spanning his three decades of government service – at his home in West Virginia without previous approvals. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, if convicted.
The charges against Franklin are the first stemming from a more than two-year FBI investigation that has raised questions about U.S. relations with a long-standing ally and the activities of one of the most influential lobby groups in Washington.
A focus of the probe has been whether a group of pro-Israel conservatives in the Pentagon crossed a line in sharing the nation’s secrets, and whether that same ally may have broken the rules about access to government data in an attempt to gain sensitive intelligence to protect itself from such foes as Iran and Iraq.
At the same time, the complaint against Franklin does not allege that he engaged in espionage or that he directly shared secrets with Israel. And a lawyer for Franklin – and those for the two lobbyists that allegedly received the classified information – issued their own vigorous denials.
The complaint also does not ascribe a motive behind Franklin’s disclosures, or identify Israel as an ultimate beneficiary.
“He intends to plead not guilty and vigorously defend himself,” said John Richards, a Washington lawyer representing Franklin. “We expect the judicial process to exonerate him.” Franklin appeared in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., Wednesday afternoon. He made no comment. He was released, after posting a $100,000 bond and agreeing to surrender his passport and firearms, and accepting other restrictions. Federal prosecutors present at the hearing did not object to his release. A preliminary hearing was set for May 27.
The government’s 10-page complaint focuses on a lunch at an Arlington, Va., restaurant on June 26, 2003, at which Franklin allegedly disclosed top-secret information about “potential attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq.” His two lunch companions were not named in the complaint, although sources identified them as Steve Rosen, the longtime policy director of the Washington-based American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and Keith Weissman, an Iran specialist with the organization. Rosen and Weissman, who previously have denied any wrongdoing, were dismissed by AIPAC last month.
A lawyer for Rosen, Abbe Lowell, reiterated the denial Wednesday.
“Steve Rosen never solicited, received, or passed on any classified documents from Larry Franklin and Mr. Franklin will never be able to say otherwise,” Lowell said in a statement released by his office.
A spokesman for AIPAC declined comment. People close to the organization have said that it has been informed that it is not a target of the Justice Department investigation.