@@ When Larry met Rabbi @@
Arash
May 9, 2005
Who Was Leaking to Whom?
By Mark Hosenball
It could easily turn into the new version of "Leak-gate"預 confrontation between
journalistic ethics and prosecutorial zeal. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Virginia last
week charged Larry Franklin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Franklin), one of the
Pentagon's top Iran experts, with unauthorized disclosure of classified information
relating to threats against U.S. forces in Iraq.
Court documents omitted the names of the recipients of Franklin's alleged leaks, but
prosecutors claimed that Franklin revealed "top secret" info to two unauthorized people at
a lunch in June 2003. Sources identified them as two senior officials of the pro-Israel
lobbying group AIPAC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIPAC), who were dismissed by the
organization last month.
Court documents allege that Larry Franklin, who worked in the office of Defense Under
Secretary Douglas Feith (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Feith), also may have leaked
secrets to a "foreign official"傭elieved to be an Israeli預nd to "members of the media".
As a result, NEWSWEEK has learned, journalists and bloggers may face questioning by FBI
agents in the case. Though reporters are not "targets" of the investigation, they could
get subpoenas if they refuse to cooperate.
John Richards, one of Franklin's lawyers, said that Franklin will plead not guilty. (One
Franklin friend said his defense team was surprised that prosecutors were not more eager
to resolve the case by plea bargain; a government source said a pretrial deal hasn't been
ruled out).
An AIPAC source claimed the government had assured the group it was not a target of the
investigation (a law-enforcement official said "nobody has been granted immunity").
But as another well-known leak case involving reporters heads to the Supreme
Court擁nvolving two journalists' refusal to reveal their sources in the case of "outed"
CIA officer Valerie Plame葉he Franklin probe could put the media and their sources back in
the headlines.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7774834/site/newsweek