FBI hunts the White House mole

[MichaelP]

London Sunday Times July 6 1997

FBI plays hunt the White House mole

American investigators are on the verge of revealing the identity of a
senior official in the Clinton administration they suspect of spying
for Israel, according to intelligence sources.

The suspect, who works in the National Security Council, was put under
surveillance because of previous contacts with the Israelis, and FBI
investigators are convinced he has been passing secrets to Israel
under the codename "Mega".

FBI counter-intelligence agents, who have been hot on his trail for
several months, are trying to gather enough evidence for an arrest,
but given the pro-Israeli political climate in Washington, a
prosecution is unlikely.

The hunt for Mega began last January, after the National Security
Agency intercepted a coded conversation between a Mossad agent in the
Israeli embassy in Washington and his supervisor in Tel Aviv.

The conversation was decoded by the NSA. In it, the Israelis discussed
"going to Mega" in order to obtain a copy of a letter from Warren
Christopher, then secretary of state, to Yasser Arafat, the
Palestinian leader.

When news of the interception surfaced, the Israeli government issued
furious denials that it had a mole in the White House. One Israeli
spokesman claimed that Mega was an abbreviation of Megawatt code for
a communications system that has existed for years between friendly
intelligence agencies. In fact, the system a method of sharing
information about terrorism is called Kilowatt.

Another Israeli official claimed that Mega was a Mossad nickname for
the liaison officer at the CIA, an explanation that is not believed by
either the CIA or the FBI. Publicly, the Clinton administration, which
was anxious to appease the Israelis, appeared to accept the
explanation, but the hunt for the spy continued.

Arab organisations want action to prove that the administration will
prosecute Israeli spies in the same way it deals with spies from other
countries.

The reality is that even if there is enough evidence to stand up in
court, a prosecution is unlikely. Jonathan Pollard, a naval worker
jailed for life in 1986, is the only person to have been sentenced in
America for spying for Israel, even though dozens of other Israeli
agents have been identified by the FBI.