@@ Larry Franklin admits spying for Israel @@
Arash
May 31, 2005
Franklin admits he disclosed classified information in AIPAC affair
By Nathan Guttman
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Washington -- Pentagon official Larry Franklin
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Franklin) admitted that he has disclosed classified
information to a foreign official who was not authorized to receive it. The admission
appeared in an FBI affidavit submitted to a U.S. District Court last week.
A Virginia grand jury is expected to indict Franklin for giving classified information to
representatives of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aipac) in the coming days.
The charges will replace the criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Justice Department at
the beginning of the month.
Haaretz reported on Monday the U.S. Justice Department is also expected to file
indictments against two former senior American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)
staffers - Steve Rosen (http://www.jta.org/storage/articleimages/15423.jpg) and Keith
Weissman (http://www.richardsilverstein.com/photos/uncategorized/weissman.jpg) - and,
according to sources familiar with the affair, the charges will be subsumed under the
Espionage Act.
According to sources, the grand jury will submit indictments against Steve Rosen, the
former head of foreign policy for the World's biggest Jewish lobbying organization, and
against Keith Weissman, who was responsible for the Iranian brief in AIPAC.
Larry Franklin appeared last Wednesday before a Federal District Court judge in West
Virginia, where he was indicted for holding secret documents in his residence.
Franklin was released on $50,000 bail last week and his court date was set for the
beginning of September. The Justice Department is also expected to indict two former
senior AIPAC staffers, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, in the next few weeks on charges
covered under the Espionage Act.
According to an FBI affidavit filed on May 24 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of West Virginia, "Franklin admitted that he may have disclosed information from
one of the classified documents found at his residence to a foreign official who was not
authorized to receive that information."
The official was believed to be Naor Gilon (http://www.sw-asia.com/People/Bio917.htm) of
the Israeli embassy in Washington, although his name and Israel have not been mentioned in
any official legal documents.
Naor Gilon maintained ties with Larry Franklin at the embassy; he is not suspected of any
wrong doing in the affair.
The FBI affidavit says that on July 13, 2004, Franklin came to the bureau for questioning
and was shown secret documents which had been found in his residence during a search two
weeks earlier. He admitted that he had taken 34 of them home between October 2003 and June
2004.
Franklin and Naor Gilon first made contact when the Pentagon official visited Israel as a
American air force reservist, attached to the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency. Franklin
requested a routine briefing by Naor Gilon, who worked in the Foreign Ministry in
Jerusalem.
When Naor Gilon was appointed head of political affairs at the Washington embassy, he kept
in touch with Franklin, who was then posted at the Pentagon's Iran Desk. The two
maintained ties, at the Israeli embassy in the American capital.
The two indictments issued against Franklin do not mention handing information to a
foreign agent. The charges focus on transferring secret information to AIPAC staffers and
holding secret documents illegally. However, the fact that the FBI affidavits say Franklin
admitted giving information to a foreign official leaves an opening for future charges
against him.
The classified material was said to involve information about hypothetical Iranian actions
in Iraq, and was supposedly given to the two former AIPAC staffers during lunch in
Virginia on June 26, 2003.
http://www.jta.org/storage/art璱cleimages/15373.jpg
http://www.richardsilverstein.璫om/tikun_olam/images/frankli璶_1.jpg
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/i璵ages/2005/05/05/national/05s璸y.184.jpg
http://story.news.yahoo.com/ph璷to/050504/480/vakw1010504221�/print
Lawrence (larry) Franklin
Part time lecturer of modern World
Department of History
Shepherd College
Shepherdstown, West Virginia
Office: White Hall, room 316
email: lfrankli at shepherd.edu
Tel: 1-304-876-5329
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/582396.html