- A former official of a pro-Israel lobbying group indicted
last week boasted that his Pentagon source was a "real insider"
and promised to "do what I can" to help the source get a job
with the National Security Council, court records show.
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- Steven J. Rosen, former director of foreign policy
issues for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, faces charges
of conspiracy to give national defense information to persons not entitled
to receive it. Also indicted was Keith Weissman, former senior Iran analyst
at AIPAC.
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- Mr. Rosen, 63, of Silver Spring, and Mr. Weissman,
53, of Bethesda, are scheduled for arraignment Aug. 16 before U.S. District
Court Judge T.S. Ellis III in Alexandria. They are accused of passing information
from classified documents, although not the documents themselves. AIPAC
fired the two men in April.
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- The 26-page indictment outlines an extensive FBI
undercover investigation dating to 1999, when conversations between Mr.
Rosen and Mr. Weissman with officials from foreign countries and others
were monitored.
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- It said the AIPAC officials illegally disclosed information
from classified reports, including data on terrorist activities in Central
Asia, the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, U.S. strategy options
in the Middle East and al Qaeda terrorists.
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- It said they also passed the information to reporters,
who were encouraged to write stories.
-
- In one exchange, according to the indictment, Mr.
Rosen told a reporter about a classified draft internal policy document,
saying, "I'm not supposed to know this," but suggesting that
it was a "considerable story." In another instance, the indictment
said, Mr. Rosen told a reporter that his information came from the "agency"
and had been provided to him by "an American intelligence source."
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- That intelligence source, the indictment said, was
Lawrence A. Franklin, a veteran Pentagon analyst arrested in May by the
FBI on charges of illegally disclosing classified information.
-
- The indictment said Mr. Rosen first talked with Mr.
Franklin in August 2002 after he called the Pentagon and asked for the
name of someone with expertise on Iran. He was given Mr. Franklin's name
and left a message, which later was returned.
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- According to the indictment, Mr. Franklin disclosed
at a February 2003 meeting national defense information on a draft report
concerning "a Middle Eastern country." Two days later, the indictment
said, Mr. Rosen and Mr. Franklin discussed the Pentagon analyst's prospects
for a job with the National Security Council, with the AIPAC official saying
that if he got the job, Mr. Franklin would be "by the elbow of the
president."
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- The indictment said Mr. Franklin asked Mr. Rosen
to "put in a good word" for him, to which Mr. Rosen replied,
"I'll do what I can." The indictment does not say what Mr. Rosen
did, if anything, to help Mr. Franklin.
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- It said Mr. Rosen referred to Mr. Franklin as a "real
insider" and that Mr. Weissman described him as a "friend of
ours."
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- http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20050807-102851-8805r.htm
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