No-Fault Espionage

by , December 17, 2009

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.

Read more by Philip Giraldi