A pro-Israel lobby group is being fingered as the recipient of secret information about potential attacks on U.S. forces that has led to the arrest of a Pentagon analyist.
A Defense Department analyst was arrested on Wednesday on charges of disclosing classified information about potential attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq to two individuals with a pro-Israel lobbying group.
Lawrence Franklin, 58, surrendered to the FBI and faces charges of disclosing classified U.S. national defense information to the individuals that sources said were with the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
The Justice Department, in announcing the case, said that Franklin faced a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Franklin, a Defense Department employee since 1979, worked on the Iran desk within the office of the secretary of defense at the time the government says he disclosed the information.
The criminal complaint and an accompanying FBI affidavit, filed in federal court in Virginia, said that Franklin on June 26, 2003, had lunch at a restaurant in Arlington, Virginia, with the two individuals.
At the lunch, Franklin disclosed classified information, designated top secret, related to potential attacks upon U.S. forces in Iraq. Neither of the two individuals had the security clearance to receive that information, the department said.
The two individuals were not identified by name in the court documents. Franklin told the two individuals that the information was “highly classified” and asked them not to “use” it, according to the court documents. The complaint also said that Franklin disclosed, without authorization, classified U.S. government information to a foreign official and to members of the news media on other occasions.
Meanwhile, according to CNN, the FBI and Justice Department have been looking at him in regards to possible spying involving Israel and the lobbying group. He turned himself into the FBI in Washington.
A one-count criminal complaint does not identify by name the pro-Israel group AIPAC, but describes the June 26, 2003, luncheon meeting in which Franklin allegedly disclosed top-secret information to two individuals known to be associated with the organization. Law enforcement officials have acknowledged the information was provided to AIPAC members…..However, the complaint provided no details on what information was illegally transmitted….
The criminal complaint says Franklin admitted to FBI investigators in a June 30, 2004, interview that he provided the classified information contained in a June 25, 2003, document to two individuals. The charging document says Franklin also disclosed classified information to a foreign official and members of the news media on other occasions.
“Approximately 83 separate classified U.S. government documents were found during a search of Franklin’s West Virginia home in June 2004. The dates of these documents spanned three decades,” the Justice Department said.
The AP notes that Israeli officials has denied spying on the United States, pointing out that the two countries share many secrets. And Iran is one of the key areas where the two countries work together.
BOTTOM LINE: This complaint involves complaints that he handed over information to a foreign official, an Israeli lobbying group and the news media.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.