August 28, 2004
Pentagon Official Is Suspected of Giving Israel Secrets
By JAMES RISEN
WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 - The F.B.I. is investigating a Pentagon official on suspicion of passing secrets to Israel, government officials said on Friday.
The espionage investigation has focused on an official who works in the office of Douglas Feith, the under secretary of defense for policy, officials who have been briefed about the investigation said. The F.B.I. has gathered evidence that the official passed classified policy documents to officials at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a major pro-Israeli lobbying group, who in turn provided the information to Israeli intelligence, the officials said.
The bureau has evidence that the Pentagon official has given the Israelis a sensitive report about American policy toward Iran, along with other materials, the officials said.
Several government officials identified the official who is under investigation, but he could not be immediately reached for comment about the accusations. The F.B.I. has not yet made any arrests in the case, government officials said.
Neither the official under suspicion nor anyone else associated with the case has been arrested, the officials said. Government officials suggested on Friday that investigators were seeking the cooperation of the Pentagon official being investigated.
Justice Department officials declined to comment on the matter.
"We categorically deny these allegations," said a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy, David Siegel. "They are completely false and outrageous."
"The United States is Israel's most cherished friend and ally," Mr. Siegel said. "We have a strong ongoing relationship at all levels, and in no way would Israel do anything to impair this relationship."
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee also denied any wrongdoing. The organization said in a statement: "Any allegation of criminal conduct by the organization or its employees is baseless and false." The group added, "We are fully cooperating with the governmental authorities and will continue to do so." The F.B.I. inquiry has been underway for at least a year, and has been one of the bureau's most sensitive spy cases in years, officials said. One official said that the suspected involvement of people working at a major pro-Israeli lobbying organization in the spy case led the Justice Department to move cautiously.
The fact that the Pentagon official under investigation works for Mr. Feith has also made the case politically sensitive for the Bush administration.
Before the war in Iraq, Mr. Feith created a special intelligence unit that sought to build a case for Iraq's ties to Al Qaeda, an effort that has since been heavily criticized by American intelligence professionals as an effort to justify the war.
In a statement made public on Friday night, the Pentagon said: "D.O.D. has been cooperating fully with the Department of Justice on this matter for an extended period of time. The investigation involves a single individual at D.O.D. at the desk officer level, who was not in a position to have significant influence over U.S. policy. Nor could a foreign power be in a position to influence U.S. policy through this individual. To the best of D.O.D.'s knowledge, the investigation does not target any other D.O.D. individuals.''
The statement used the initials D.O.D. for the Department of Defense.
The U.S. official said he did not know the motive for the desk officer's actions, and could not assess the potential damage of his alleged actions. "He had a certain expertise and had access to things, but he wasn't a policymaker," the official said.
Some of the classified information that investigators suspect was passed to Israel dealt with sensitive policy discussions about the United States position toward Iran, officials said.
As a result, the investigation is likely to give rise to questions about whether Israel may have used the information to influence American policy in the Middle East.
The Pentagon analyst who officials said is under suspicion was one of two department officials who traveled to Paris for a secret meeting with Manucher Ghorbanifar, an Iranian arms dealer who had been a central figure in the Iran-contra affair.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld confirmed last year that the secret meeting had occurred, but he defended it as an appropriate diplomatic effort. He said the talks went nowhere.
It was not immediately clear whether the espionage investigation was directly related to the secret meeting with Mr. Ghorbanifar. Nor was there immediate evidence of whether money had changed hands in exchange for classified information. |
