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Politics : WAR on Terror. Will it engulf the Entire Middle East? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: rrufff who wrote (7464)	9/1/2004 1:38:44 AM
From: Sojourner Smith	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32591

you ask some interesting questions, that I have wondered myself. I wonder if I can get a job in counter-terrorism, I keep thinking of tech ways to track the extremists.

To: rrufff who wrote (7464)	9/1/2004 4:04:14 AM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 32591

01/09/2004 Report: FBI struggles to find Israel link in Franklin-AIPAC probes By Nathan Gutman and Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondents, and Reuters WASHINGTON - The Federal Bureau of Investigation is increasingly desperate in its efforts to discover the identities of the suspected Israeli recipients of information from Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin, the New York Times reported Tuesday. Citing sources close to the investigation, the Times said that the media exposure the case has received has made it more difficult to discover who received confidential information from Franklin, thus forcing the FBI to concentrate on completing its probe into allegations surrounding Franklin and two officials from the pro-Israel lobby group America Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). According to the Times, the FBI questioned the two officials suspected of receiving information from Franklin. They are Steven Rosen, the lobby's director of foreign policy issues, and Keith Weissman, one of its experts on Iran. In the coming days, the Justice Department will decide whether to file criminal charges against Franklin or seek an indictment through a grand jury. Franklin's two superiors, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith, were briefed this past weekend on the status of the investigation. The Anti-Defamation League, one of the largest Jewish organizations in North America, has officially called on the Bush administration to immediately appoint a special counsel to investigate the circumstances of leaks to the American media regarding suspicions of an alleged Israeli "mole" in the Pentagon. "The one clear fact that can be agreed upon is that there was a malicious and targeted leak that is more damaging than the actual allegations of Israeli spying - allegations that in all likelihood are baseless," said Abraham Foxman, the national director of the ADL, in an exclusive interview to Haaretz. "The ADL will demand appointing a commission of inquiry to make every effort in identifying which official or officials are behind the leak," said Foxman, who is known to have close relationships with administration officials and the White House. "A leak directed against a friendly country like Israel causes grave damage, and the current suspicions of spying damaged Israel, the local Jewish community, and relations between the two countries," Foxman said. Foxman maintains that an official within the administration is responsible for the leak. "Someone in the hierarchy is trying to ruin relations between Israel and the administration and between Israel and the Jewish community," he said. "As such, we cannot accept a situation where the identity of the person or persons responsible for the leak remains anonymous and no one takes responsibility for this foolish act." The ADL director notes that all the allegations raised in the last few years of spying by Israel against the United States were revealed to be lies. "The press in the United States widely reported suspicions that local Jews and Israelis were involved in spying for the benefit of Israel yet the press ignored the results of the investigations yielded no charges or arrests," Foxman said. FBI investigators briefed key White House and congressional officials in recent days on their investigation of a Defense Department analyst suspected of turning over classified policy documents to Israel, officials said on Tuesday. The briefings, which began on Friday and continued over the weekend, included top officials at the White House's National Security Council, as well as the Pentagon, the State Department and the key congressional intelligence committees. "You brief the logical people - people with the need to know," an official said. He said a briefing for the NSC would be standard in any counterintelligence investigation. "We were appraised of the investigation," an NSC official said. He declined further comment on the case. Officials say the FBI started its investigation more than a year ago into whether a Defense Department analyst passed on policy documents - including a draft presidential directive on Iran - to Israel via the AIPAC. News of the investigation leaked out on Friday, increasing public pressure on the FBI to spell out its case, which is being handled by federal prosecutors in Virginia. Sources said federal prosecutors were actively considering whether to bring charges as early as this week or next week. The Israeli government has denied the allegations. AIPAC has called any allegations against it or its employees "baseless and false." FBI met with AIPAC After key congressional officials were briefed, two sources said some of the lawmakers who took part were openly "skeptical" of the evidence. They said they doubted the investigation would reach the level of espionage, and would more likely result in lesser charges, if any. The FBI stepped up its investigation on Friday, when it met with two officials at AIPAC and asked them about their contacts with the Pentagon analyst. AIPAC has powerful friends in Washington, and some of them are rallying to its defense. Among them are Reps. Roy Blunt of Missouri, a top Republican leader in the House of Representatives, and his Democratic counterpart, Steny Hoyer of Maryland. Blunt said in a written statement that the House "will want to look carefully at any allegations that might endanger our national security." But he added: "It will begin that look with a record of great confidence in our relationship with AIPAC and our strongest ally and the only democracy in the Middle East, Israel." An Israeli embassy official said the FBI has yet to question officials there. "It's business as usual. We're continuing our contacts with the administration," the embassy official said. Israeli officials insist that Israel has not spied on the United States since being caught red-handed two decades ago in a scandal involving U.S. Navy analyst Jonathan Pollard - jailed for life in a case that is still an irritant in relations.