The spies who came in from the art sale / Allies and Espionage
Arther Miller
Some reporters have said what U.S. and Israeli officials don't want to hear
http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/fishwrapper.html
TALK OF THE TOWN | FISHWRAPPER 03.13.02
The spies who came in from the art sale
Some reporters have said what U.S. and Israeli officials don't want to hear
BY JOHN SUGG
Good advice for journalists is to take note of where the rest of your
colleagues are staring, then turn 180 degrees and see what your pals
have missed. Often it's a story. Sometimes a scary one.
A major international espionage saga has many of its roots right here
in Atlanta. Incredibly, you haven't read about it in the Atlanta Journal-
Constitution even though that paper's Washington bureau last week
reported the seething scandal.
It's a touchy subject, to be sure, because it isn't Saddam, Fidel, Osama or
even what passes nowadays for the KGB spying on America -- but our "friend"
in the war against "evil," Israel.
In an era where CNN CEO Walter Issacson says it would be "perverse" to
televise Afghan babies killed by U.S. bombs, it's not surprising some
stories go unnoticed by a press that embraces "patriotism" by ignoring
sacred cows.
One of those cattle is what's happening in Israel and Palestine. Reporters know
that to criticize Israel -- to point out, for example, that wanton killing of
innocents is equally devilish whether committed by Ariel Sharon's soldiers
flying U.S.-made helicopters, or by a Hamas suicide bomber who pushes the button --
is to risk being called an anti-Semite.
Even with that background, however, it's a little hard to understand the media's
avoidance of the spy story I'm going to tell you.
In 1999, word began spreading among intelligence agencies about bands of Israeli
"students" doing veeeerrrrry strange things, such as popping up around federal
buildings and military establishments marketing artwork.
According to intelligence sources, low-level alerts began being flashed around
to offices of the FBI, DEA, federal prosecutors and others. By March 2001,
counterintelligence officials had issued a bulletin to be on the watch for
Israelis masquerading as "art students."
At the same time, American intelligence services were increasingly worried by
the dominance of many highly sensitive areas of telecommunications by
Israeli companies. Comverse Infosys (now called Verint) provides U.S.
lawmen with computer equipment for wiretapping. Speculation is that
"catch gates" in the system allowed listeners to be listened to.
Other software called Amdocs provided extensive records of virtually
all calls placed by the 25 largest U.S. telephone companies.
Often the Israeli "students" sold their artwork on street locations near
federal buildings. In one incident in Atlanta, they showed up outside an
unlisted FBI office and began taking photos, according to sources.
Agents collared them and sent them on their way.
Also in our town, a DEA agent recalled seeing the "students" selling art
around his offices. Later, when he spied the same artwork (Chinese made,
as it turned out) at the Mall of Georgia, he became suspicious.
The DEA is the lead U.S. agency in monitoring money laundering --
which would explain a spy's interest.
Similarly, a former federal prosecutor was visited at his home by the
Israeli "art salesmen" -- and, according to sources, concluded that,
wow, this was exactly what the alerts had been about.
Then came Sept. 11. While America was mesmerized by the "War on Terrorism,"
the media went out to a four-martini lunch when it came to skeptical
reporting.
With a few commendable exceptions. One of those is Carl Cameron,
a gutsy reporter for Fox News. On Dec. 12, Cameron broke the blockbuster
spy story. He said at the time: "Since Sept. 11, more than 60 Israelis
have been arrested or detained, either under the new PATRIOT anti-
terrorism law, or for immigration violations. A handful of active
Israeli military were among those detained, according to investigators,
who say some of the detainees also failed polygraph questions when
asked about alleged surveillance activities against and in the
United States."
That was enough of a gut-kick. Then Cameron threw this incendiary
bomb: "There is no indication that the Israelis were involved in the
9-11 attacks, but investigators suspect that the Israelis may have
gathered intelligence about the attacks in advance, and not shared
it."
Fox also reported the Israeli "students" "targeted and penetrated"
U.S. military bases.
In the rest of the world -- Europe, Arab countries and Israel, especially --
the story made headlines. Even the official Chinese news agency perked up.
Not in our well-defended (against disturbing news) homeland, however.
Cameron, in an interview, said he doesn't believe the conspiracy theories
about why the story was ignored here. An honest scribe, he points to a
shortcoming in his own work -- one hammered on by Israeli critics at
the time -- conceding "there were no [on-the-record] interviews.
I didn't tell other reporters where to find the documents.
They couldn't do instant journalism."
Others at Fox confirm there was intense pressure on the network by
pro-Israeli lobbying groups, such as the Anti-Defamation League and
the misnamed Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting (CAMERA).
"These charges are arrant nonsense unworthy of the usually reliable
Fox News," CAMERA huffed in a Dec. 12 release.
Cameron reported Dec. 13 that federal agents were afraid to criticize
Israel. "Investigators within the DEA, INS and FBI have all told Fox
News that to pursue or even suggest Israeli spying ...
is considered career suicide."
Cameron told me in similar language that's what journalists also can face.
And, what's clear is that Fox quickly removed the story from its website.
(Fox reposted the story last week after other media finally picked it up.)
The story pretty much fell asleep before Christmas. Then, all hell broke
loose in the last 10 days. A French Web-based service, Intelligence Online,
obtained the same 61-page June 2001 federal report that Cameron had.
The website reported that 120 Israelis had by now been detained or
deported by U.S. authorities.
Let me repeat that: 120 potential spies. This isn't worth press curiosity?
Few papers have given the story significant space. Many, like the AJC,
haven't uttered a peep.
Some of what has seeped out is disturbing. The Oklahoman reported last
week that 10 months ago four Israelis peddling artwork (but carrying
military IDs) were detained near Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma.
Le Monde in Paris recounted that six intercepted "students" had cell
phones purchased by an Israeli vice consul in the United States. Sources
told CL that many of the phones had a walkie-talkie feature that was
virtually impossible to intercept.
Intelligence Online connected many dots, naming which Israelis were
employed by the tech companies, and what military specialties
they had ("special forces," "intelligence officer," "explosive
ordnance/combat engineer," "electronic intercept operator" --
even "son of Israeli army general").
Many of the apparent operatives had set up shop at addresses
only stones' throws from Arabs in San Diego, Little Rock, Irving,
Texas, and in South Florida. Especially in Florida, where 10 of
the 19 Sept. 11 terrorists lived, the French report bolsters
speculation that the Israelis might have gained advanced knowledge
of the attack -- and not passed on that critical intelligence to
the United States.
Bush administration shills were quick to try and spin the story.
A Justice Department spokeswoman, Susan Dryden, called the Intelligence
Online report an "urban myth," and other federal flaks trumpeted that
no Israeli had been charged with or deported for spying. Of course,
in the Great Game, "friendly" spies are seldom embarrassed by being
called by their true colors.
Predictably, Israeli Embassy spokesman Mark Reguev derided the Intelligence
Online report as "nonsense." Israel in the past has stridently denied
wrongdoing until long after the truth was obvious. Israel claimed
Jonathan Pollard -- a super spy who did horrendous, deadly damage to
the United States until arrested in 1985 -- wasn't an agent.
And, Israel has stubbornly contended its 1967 attack on the USS Liberty,
in which 35 American sailors were killed, was an accident --
a lie exposed in recent reports including one that aired last fall
on the History Channel. A recent authoritative book, Body of Secrets,
by James Bamford, concludes that National Security Agency officials
"were virtually unanimous in their belief that the attack was deliberate."
Following U.S. denials of the recent spy story, Intelligence Online editor
Guillaume Dasquie threatened to post the sensitive report online.
He commented: "The document we have in our possession details not only
the identities of the members of this network, but also their activities
in the Israeli army, and even their serial numbers in the intelligence
services, their passport numbers and their validity, and their visas
and their validity."
There's more to this story to come -- but you might have to move to Paris
to read it (or keep your eyes on CL).
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Allies and Espionage
Jane's Intelligence Digest, 3/15/2002
http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/jid/jid020313_1_n.shtml
It is rather strange that the US media, with one notable exception,
seems to be ignoring what may well prove to be the most explosive
story since the 11 September attacks - the alleged break-up of a
major Israeli espionage operation in the United States which aimed
to infiltrate both the justice and defence departments and which
may also have been tracking Al-Qaeda terrorists before the aircraft
hijackings took place.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been quick to dismiss
a 4 March report by Intelligence Online, a French web site that
specialises in security matters (and expanded on by French daily Le
Monde the following day) that US authorities had arrested or deported
some 120 Israelis since February 2001 and that the investigation
was still continuing. The FBI insists that no Israeli has been
charged with espionage, but has agreed that an undisclosed number of
Israeli students have been expelled for "immigration violations".
Justice Department spokeswoman Susan Dryden dismissed the espionage
allegations as "an urban myth that's been circulating for months..."
If the reports from Paris are correct, it would be the largest known
Israeli espionage operation mounted in the USA, the Jewish state's
closest ally and one on which it depends for its survival.
Israel's intelligence organisations have been spying on the USA and
running clandestine operations on US soil since the Jewish state was
established.
This has included smuggling an estimated 200 pounds of weapons-grade
uranium for its secret nuclear arms programme in the 1960s to widescale
industrial espionage, much of it conducted by the highly secret Scientific
Liaison Bureau, known by its Hebrew acronym Lakam, which was run by the
Israeli Defence Ministry and its equally little-known successor Malmab
(the Security Authority for the Ministry of Defence). Indeed, the General
Accounting Office, the investigative arm of the US Congress, reported
in April 1996 that Israel "conducts the most aggressive espionage operation
against the United States of any US ally".
While the sort of operation described by Intelligence Online and Le Monde
(if indeed the allegation is true) is unlikely to have caused anywhere near
the damage to US security inflicted by navy analyst Jonathan Pollard, an
American who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1987 for providing Israeli
intelligence with a mountain of top secret material in 1984-85, it would
still be political dynamite which could result in a political backlash against
Israel which is finding itself increasingly isolated within the
international community...
US officials admitted to reporters that the entire investigation had become
"too hot to handle", but declined to give further details. However, some FBI
officials did confirm at the time that the Israelis were running a major
eavesdropping operation that had penetrated into the highest echelons of
the US administration.
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