Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (141876)	10/5/2005 11:54:17 PM
From: KLP	Respond to of 793911

Re: Spy in the WH: What do you think Richard Clarke was doing all this time? It will be interesting to see who was/is in charge of vetting all the WH Staff....anytime in the last 20 years.... In 2000, Aragoncillo worked on the staff of then-Vice President Al Gore. Aragoncillo began working at the White House in 1999. Officials are now trying to learn how he landed the job, when he started spying, and how he escaped detection for so long. "Of course, it is a source of embarrassment when you find out that this kind of activity has been carried out literally right under your nose," said Martin, the former espionage prosecutor. According to friends, in addition to his work for Cheney and Gore, Aragoncillo claimed he also worked with President Clinton and Condoleezza Rice when she was the national security advisor

To: LindyBill who wrote (141876)	10/6/2005 12:42:39 AM
From: KLP	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793911

And another problem...Who's been doing the hiring??? Pentagon Analyst Admits Sharing Secret Data October 6, 2005 nytimes.com By ERIC LICHTBLAU ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 5 - A senior Defense Department analyst admitted Wednesday that he shared secret military information with two pro-Israeli lobbyists and an Israeli official in an effort to create a "backchannel" to the Bush administration on Middle East policy. The analyst, Lawrence A. Franklin, pleaded guilty in federal court here to three criminal counts for improperly retaining and disclosing classified information, and he gave the first account of his motives and thinking in establishing secret liaisons with people outside the government. The offenses carry a maximum of 25 years in prison, but as part of a plea agreement, prosecutors are expected to recommend leniency for Mr. Franklin in return for his cooperation in a continuing investigation in the January trial of the two lobbyists, Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weissman. The lobbyists were dismissed last year by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or Aipac, after the investigation became public. Mr. Franklin, 58, said in entering his guilty pleas that he had shared with the lobbyists "my frustrations with a particular policy" during repeated meetings from 2002 to 2004. He did not divulge the particular policy, but officials in the case said he was referring to the Bush administration's dealings with Iran. Some of the more hawkish officials in the administration have pushed for a harder line in confronting Iran about its nuclear ambitions, but the administration has been deeply divided about how to engage with the country. Mr. Franklin worked for a time as a senior analyst on Iran under Douglas Feith, a former under secretary at the Pentagon. Mr. Franklin said in court that he believed the Aipac lobbyists had access and influence at the National Security Council, which coordinates policy issues for the president and was deeply involved in setting the administration's course on Iran. He said he hoped the lobbyists could help influence policy by passing on information that he knew was classified. "I asked them to use their contacts to get this information backchannels to people at the N.S.C.," he said. Mr. Franklin was also applying for a position at the N.S.C. in early 2003 and asked Mr. Rosen to "put in a good word" for him, according to a filing on Wednesday by prosecutors as part of the plea agreement. Mr. Rosen said, "I'll see what I can do." In addition to his contacts with the lobbyists, Mr. Franklin admitted meeting with an official with the Israeli Embassy and passing on classified information regarding weapons tests in the Middle East, military activities in Iraq and other issues. Mr. Franklin said he assumed that such "tidbits" were already known to Israel, and he said that the Israeli official "gave me far more information than I gave him." Prosecutors said Mr. Franklin knew that the classified information he shared "could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation." But Mr. Franklin said, "It was never my intent to harm the United States." He said he did not even consider one of the documents cited by prosecutors to have been classified, but when he started to discuss the document in open court - referring to a one-page fax with a "list of murders," apparently in Iran - lawyers from both sides jumped up to cut him off. The judge, T. S. Ellis, agreed at the urging of prosecutors to put Mr. Franklin's reference to the list under seal in the court record. Mr. Franklin will lose his government pension, but his wife will be allowed to keep her survivor's benefits from the government in the deal, officials said. Mr. Franklin has been financially struggling since his arrest last year, and he told the court he has been working as a waiter and bartender at a pub, and as a valet at a racetrack, and has also been teaching courses on Asian history and terrorism at Shepherd University near his home in West Virginia.