Steven J. Rosen, Keith Weissman, Lawrence Franklin, AIPAC
Steve Rosen, far right wing author at Daniel Pipes’ Middle East Forum site, is set to begin trial for espionage in June.
Rosen himself has already been indicted by the Department of Justice in an espionage scandal over the transfer of classified information to outside parties involving a colleague at AIPAC, a former official in Donald Rumsfeld’s Pentagon, and an official at the Israeli embassy. His blog, Obama Mideast Monitor, is hosted by the Middle East Forum website run by Daniel Pipes, a hard-core, pro-Israeli rightist, whose Middle East Quarterly is, in turn, edited by Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute.
On November 3, 2008, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that Rosen is now working for the Middle East Forum (MEF), a pro-Israel think tank directed by neoconservative scholar Daniel Pipes. Rosen is writing a blog hosted on the MEF website, devoted to Obama Administration personnel and policy: http://www.meforum.org/blog/obama-mideast-monitor/archive.php In November 2008, Rosen published "Did Iran Offer a 'Grand Bargain' in 2003?,"[1] and gave a presentation for MEF entitled "Wishful Thinking and Iran."[2]
On March 2, 2009 Steven Rosen sued AIPAC for slander and libel, asserting in a 36 page complaint that AIPAC's board of directors were not only aware that he was soliciting and circulating classified information, but rewarded and promoted him for it. The AIPAC board of directors and outside public relations firm have been subpoenaed to join Rosen in the DC Superior Court in June of 2009. The Rosen filing is available at the Israel Lobby Archive.
Rosen’s career took a dramatic turn on August 27, 2004, when CBS News broadcast a report alleging that “A spy is working for Israel at the Pentagon… The suspected mole supplied Israel with classified materials…passing classified information…to two men at AIPAC, and on to the Israelis...[including] a presidential directive on U.S. policy toward Iran.” On screen, CBS showed an image of a document titled “Presidential Directive: U.S. Policy Toward Iran,” and a file folder marked “classified” being passed from a man labeled “suspected spy” to a box marked with the AIPAC logo, and from there to Israel symbolized by its flag. The same day, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents, accompanied by media camera crews, raided the AIPAC offices with a warrant to inspect the paper and electronic files of Steven Rosen.
The CBS report and the FBI raid were followed by a period of intense worldwide media attention to the allegation that AIPAC was enmeshed in an espionage scandal of major proportions. Critics of AIPAC and Israel saw validation for their thesis that pro-Israel advocacy is inimical to the American national interest, and for their belief that many Jews are more loyal to Israel than America.
Lawrence Franklin, the Pentagon official in the case, was indicted on May 26, 2005, and Rosen and Weissman were indicted on August 4, 2005.
The prosecution was brought under the Espionage Act (18 USC 793), a statute that has been on the books since 1917. The specific provisions under which Rosen and Weissman were indicted--sections (d) and (e)--were added to the statute in 1950.
The indictment of Rosen and Weissman, filed in Alexandria, Virginia on August 4, 2005, alleges that:
“Between in or about April 1999 and continuing until on or about August 27, 2004, in the Eastern District of Virginia and elsewhere, defendants Lawrence Anthony Franklin, Steven J. Rosen, and Keith Weissman did unlawfully, knowingly and willfully conspire, confederate and agree together and with others, known and unknown to the Grand Jury, to commit the following offenses against the United States:
1) having lawful possession of, access to, and control over information relating to the national defense, did willfully communicate, deliver and transmit that information directly and indirectly to a person or persons not entitled to receive it, having reason to believe that said information could be used to the injury of the United States and to the advantage of any foreign nation, a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 793(d); and
2) having unauthorized possession of, access to, and control over information relating to the national defense, did willfully communicate, deliver and transmit that information directly and indirectly to a person or persons not entitled to receive it, having reason to believe that said information could be used to the injury of the United States and to the advantage of any foreign nation, a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 793(e).
1. It was part of the conspiracy that, in an effort to influence persons within and outside the United States government, Rosen and Weissman would cultivate relationships with Franklin and others and would use their contacts within the U.S. government and elsewhere to gather sensitive U.S. government information, including classified information relating to the national defense, for subsequent unlawful communication, delivery and transmission to persons not entitled to receive it.
1. It was further part of the conspiracy that Franklin would use his position as a desk officer in the Office of the Secretary of Defense to gather information relating to the national defense, for subsequent unlawful communication, delivery and transmission to Rosen and Weissman and others not entitled to receive it.
1. It was further part of the conspiracy that Franklin, Rosen and Weissman would meet at locations in the Eastern District of Virginia and elsewhere, to exchange information, including classified information relating to the national defense.
1. It was further part of the conspiracy that Franklin would unlawfully deliver, communicate and transmit classified national defense information in an effort to advance his own personal foreign policy agenda and influence persons within and outside the United States government.
1. It was further part of the conspiracy that Rosen and Weissman, without lawful authority, would communicate to persons not entitled to receive it, classified information relating to the national defense.”
http://fl1.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/nytimes/docs/dod/usfrnklin80205ind.pdf
Also see:
Lawrence Franklin espionage scandal
Keith Weissman
tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/26/only_in_america_on_trial_for_spying_for_israel_ge/
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Steve_Rosen
§ http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/documents/franklinindictment.pdf
§ http://fl1.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/nytimes/docs/dod/usfrnklin80205ind.pdf
§ http://www.fas.org/sgp/jud/aipac/memop110207.pdf
§ http://www.rcfp.org/news/documents/20051012-motioniniu.html
§ http://www.rcfp.org/news/documents/20070313-motiontoin.html
§ http://www.fas.org/sgp/jud/rosen011906.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Weissman
The Lawrence Franklin espionage scandal (also known as the AIPAC espionage scandal) refers to allegations that information regarding United States policy towards Iran was passed to Israel through Lawrence Franklin via staffers of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Franklin, a former United States Department of Defense employee, pled guilty to several espionage-related charges and was sentenced in January 2006 to nearly 13 years of prison. Two former AIPAC employees have also been indicted.
The investigation and prosecutions, which began in 1999, have attracted attention because critics of U.S. Israeli policy have claimed AIPAC has served as a conduit for Israel's spying efforts with near impunity due to its powerful connections in Washington. Franklin's indictment mentioned but did not name several foreign diplomats, widely believed to be Israeli, as being involved with his efforts.
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