NEW YORK, 5 September 2004 — The Pentagon mole who recently made headlines for being in the center of a Federal Bureau of Investigation sting operation now appears to be but a small piece of the spy puzzle.
The emerging view is that AIPAC, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, and an Israeli official, were at the center of the investigation. Newsweek reported this week that the FBI was not watching Larry Franklin, a Pentagon analyst specializing in Iran and Middle Eastern affairs in the office of policy undersecretary Douglas Feith, but rather Naor Gilon, an Israeli diplomat at the Israeli Embassy.
The New York Times added AIPAC to the equation: “The inquiry by the FBI investigation into whether a Pentagon analyst passed classified information to Israel grew out of a longstanding covert national security inquiry into AIPAC,” it reported Thursday.
Part of the investigation does focus on whether Franklin passed a classified, draft White House directive to two AIPAC officials, who in turn allegedly provided it to the Israeli government.
No one has yet been charged. Franklin is said to be cooperating with officials, and both AIPAC and Israel have denied any wrongdoing.
In a bizarre twist, it now appears that the FBI was observing Gilon and AIPAC staff lunching together, when suddenly Franklin — whom the FBI did not recognize — joined them.
At first Franklin seemed an unlikely suspect — he is not Jewish and only a mid-level employee in the Pentagon. However, he was stationed the US Embassy in Tel Aviv and had also worked at the Defense Intelligence Agency.
On Friday, FBI agents searched AIPAC’s offices, specifically that of Steven Rosen, the organization’s director of policy issues. Agents also met briefly with the group’s executive director, Howard Kohr.
As for the Pentagon, It’s no secret that some prominent neoconservative officials like Doug Feith, vice presidential advisor David Wurmser, and the former Defense Policy Board chair Richard Perle are sympathetic to the government of Ariel Sharon and the Likud government. Feith, Wurmser and Perle co-authored the paper, “A Clean Break,” which advocated that Israel abandon the Oslo peace process. But Franklin, although a passionate advocate of regime change in Iran, is not really part of this group.
An analyst told Arab News it is ironic that what the Pentagon official is alleged to have passed on to AIPAC and the Israelis is essentially a diplomatic document that describes a draft US policy position on Iran; in other words hardly the crown jewels, and hardly enough to warrant wiretaps and surveillance of AIPAC’s offices. “The Israelis can get that stuff by going directly to Condoleezza Rice,” he said.
Some experts speculate this case may be politically motivated. There’s intense competition over who would be national security advisor in a second term Bush administration. Anything that taints Feith and Wolfowitz could benefit their internal Bush administration foes.
AIPAC and its allies, meanwhile, have begun to mount a public relations campaign to limit the political damage. AIPAC, long considered one of the most influential lobbying groups in Washington, said in a statement issued Thursday its members should contact members of Congress “to continue expressing your strong support” for the group and for US-Israeli relations.
