No-Fault Espionage: Israel Eyes On China, Cuba And Iran
28 December 2009By Philip Giraldi
It is interesting to note what happens to espionage
cases in the United States. If you spy for China, or
Cuba, or Iran you will be exposed, excoriated in the
media, locked up and denied bail, convicted, and
sentenced to many years in a federal prison. Spying is
serious business and the harsh punishment most often
fits the crime because when spies steal highly
sensitive defense and policy information they are not
only betraying their fellow citizens, they are also
making all Americans less secure. And the spying is
only slightly less serious when American technology is
being targeted. When spies acting for a foreign
country steal sensitive technology with commercial
applications that is developed at great cost either by
the US government or private companies, their betrayal
is also taking away the livelihoods of thousands of
American workers who rely on the competitive edge of
US technology to keep their jobs.
Spies are traitors in every sense of the word, unless,
of course, if one is spying for Israel. Israel
aggressively spies on the US both to influence policy
and steal high technology, but getting caught only
very rarely has any consequences. Leading
neoconservatives like Richard Perle, Douglas Feith,
and Stephen Bryen have all been detected in flagrante
providing classified information to Israel but the
investigations were halted and their security
clearances were godfathered so they could continue to
hold high office. FBI counter intelligence officer
John Cole has reported on the frustration of his
colleagues over the many cases of Israeli espionage
that are dropped under orders from the Justice
Department. He provides a "conservative estimate" of
125 worthwhile investigations into Israeli espionage
in the US involving both American citizens and
Israelis stopped due to political pressure from above.
Israeli citizens and diplomats who are caught in the
act spying are routinely freed without criminal
charges and allowed to return home.
If you are an American who spies for Israel, a
separate and unequal criminal justice system kicks in
and the media quickly excuses your actions and then
makes the story go away just as fast as it can. Most
readers of Antiwar.com are familiar with the recent
case of AIPAC officials Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman.
The two men were given information that they knew to
be classified by Pentagon employee Larry Franklin, who
perhaps not coincidentally worked for Doug Feith. They
passed the information on to an intelligence officer
at the Israeli Embassy with whom they were also in
contact. The FBI set up a sting using Franklin and
arrested all three of the men under the Espionage Act
of 1917. The arrest was followed by a nearly three
year long trial in which the AIPAC duo finally escaped
any punishment after presiding Judge Thomas Ellis
obligingly set conditions that made it impossible for
the prosecution to proceed. Franklin, who pleaded
guilty and was sentenced to 151 months in prison, was
subsequently freed of his obligation to do any jail
time by the same Judge Ellis. While the trial was
going on, it was conspicuously underreported by the
media.
Predictably, many in the media and in the neocon
establishment criticized the arrests of Rosen and
Weissman, commenting that exchanges of classified
"information" were routine in Washington and that
Israel is a good friend requiring the classified
intelligence for its own security. The argument might
not have convinced the American public, but it
certainly convinced the barking dogs in the media and
Judge Ellis, particularly as there might have been a
little nudging from important politicians taking
place. Congresswoman Jane Harman, who was caught on
the phone trading favors with an agent working for
Israeli intelligence promised to use her influence in
the Rosen-Weissman case in return for Israel helping
her obtain the position of chairman of the House
Intelligence Committee, a devil's bargain if there
ever was one.
The case of Ben-Ami Kadish is in some ways even more
intriguing than that of the two AIPAC staffers. Kadish
was arrested in New Jersey in December 2008 for
"conspiracy to disclose to the government of Israel
documents related to the national defense of the
United States and… that he participated in a
conspiracy to act as an agent of the government of
Israel." Kadish gave the same Israeli intelligence
officer who ran convicted spy Jonathan Pollard
classified documents that he had obtained while
working at the US Army Armament Research, Development,
and Engineering Center at Picatinny Arsenal in Dover,
New Jersey. Some of the documents were related to
nuclear weapons development while others described
highly classified aspects of the Patriot anti-missile
defense system. Israel subsequently developed its own
Arrow anti-missile system, possibly using classified
information relating to the Patriot, thereby reducing
its own costs and enabling it to market the Arrow
internationally at a lower price than its US
competitors, eliminating American jobs.
Ben-Ami Kadish was arrested in December but released
on bail. He was supposed to reappear before Judge
Douglas Eaton at the US District Court for the
Southern District of New York in Manhattan two months
later in February, but did not actually reappear until
June. He was fined and given a suspended sentence, a
slap on the wrist considerably less painful than a
local businessman cheating on his income tax might
have received in the same courtroom.
And there is a current spy case involving Israel which
clearly is being swept under the rug. Stewart Nozette,
a scientist working for the US government, was
arrested on October 19th and charged with conspiring
to commit espionage. Nozette was caught in an FBI
sting operation in which the Bureau officer pretended
to be an Israeli Mossad spy. Nozette enthusiastically
embraced the offer to cooperate, demanding in return
an Israeli passport and money for the information that
he would provide. The US media quickly went into
damage mode, the New York Times headlining its
coverage "The Scientist Who Mistook Himself for a
Spy." Many in the media quickly noted that the FBI
agent was not actually Mossad, meaning that Israel was
not directly involved. The convenient spin ignored the
fact the Nozette told the agent that he had already
"communicated classified information" to Israel for
many years through contacts in the Israel Aerospace
Industries, for which he received $225,000. Nozette
stated that he believed he had already been spying for
Israel, telling the pretend Mossad but really FBI
officer "I thought I was working for you already."
So what has happened to Nozette, who, according to the
court papers, "had regular, frequent access to
classified information and documents related to the US
national defense"? Well, as in the case of Ben-Ami
Kadish, he seems to have disappeared. The media has
dropped the story and Nozette did not appear again in
court on November 10th as scheduled. He may have been
consigned to that limbo where those who spy for Israel
seem to wind up prior to being released. The Federal
District Court for the District of Columbia's website
is giving nothing away. Nozette's name does not appear
anywhere and if one calls the court clerk and requests
information on his status, the call will not be
returned.
The point is that if Congress and the Justice
Department think that when Americans are caught spying
for Israel it is constitutionally protected activity,
like free speech, perhaps they should say so publicly.
A two-tier system relating to national security issues
and rule of law is just not in the US national
interest, no matter how one twists the facts. If you
spy for Israel the consequences should be the same as
if you spy for China or Cuba – arrest, conviction, and
hard jail time. No exceptions, no excuses.
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EsinIslam.Com
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