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Has Franklin already been flipped? It appears so, according to this Newsweek piece:
It was just a Washington lunch—one that the FBI happened to be monitoring. Nearly a year and a half ago, agents were monitoring a conversation between an Israeli Embassy official and a lobbyist for American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, as part of a probe into possible Israeli spying. Suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, in the description of one intelligence official, another American "walked in" to the lunch out of the blue. Agents at first didn't know who the man was. They were stunned to discover he was Larry Franklin, a desk officer with the Near East and South Asia office at the Pentagon.
Franklin soon became a subject of the FBI investigation as well. . .
Officials say that Franklin began cooperating about a month ago, after he was confronted by the FBI. At the time, these officials say, Franklin acknowledged meetings with the Israeli contact.
By far the most interesting tidbit to me in this piece is embedded in the first scene Hosenball and Isikoff set the piece up with: Even before Franklin came into the picture, the FBI was already conducting an espionage investigation that had its agents monitoring Israeli officials' meetings with AIPAC officials.
Now that is really interesting. Why were Israeli diplomats/intelligence agents and AIPAC already under surveillance? That doesn't just happen casually.
Posted by Laura at August 29, 2004 12:28 AMThank you. I know that I tend toward paranoia, so reading this reassures me about my mental health although not about our country. You and your colleagues live up to my ideals about the free press.
Posted by: nancy gearhart at August 29, 2004 11:21 AMNY TIMES
OFFICIALS SAY PUBLICITY DERAILED SECRETS INQUIRY
[or, Franklin purposely outted as double agent to protect Israeli spies, Bwhahaha!]
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/30/politics/30spy.html?hp
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 - The Pentagon official under suspicion of turning over classified information to Israel began cooperating with federal agents several weeks ago and was preparing to lead the authorities to contacts inside the Israeli government when the case became publicly known last week, government officials said Sunday.
The disclosure of the inquiry late on Friday by CBS News revealed what had been for nearly a year a covert national security investigation conducted by the F.B.I., according to the officials, who said that news reports about the inquiry compromised important investigative steps, like the effort to follow the trail back to the Israelis.
As a result, several areas of the case remain murky, the officials said. ...............
............. Mr. Franklin began cooperating with agents this month in an arrangement that is still not completely understood. He agreed to help the authorities monitor his meetings with his contacts at the lobbying group. It is not clear whether the authorities in exchange agreed to grant him any form of leniency.
Posted by: Carswell at August 30, 2004 01:38 AMfrom: MSNBC "Countdown" Program, Fri. 8/27
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5860584/
PETE WILLIAMS, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well first of all, no charges yet, Alex. And of course, this is not the way these things are supposed to work. Cases that are under investigation are not supposed to become public because who knows where they‘re going to end up? It is always theoretically charged—possible that they‘ll end up with nobody being charged or arrested...................
........... I don‘t know who CBS‘ source is and neither do the law enforcement officials that I‘m talking to tonight. Although they‘re very upset that this thing has leaked out and they also—some of them suspect a possible political motivation. They think somebody may be trying to embarrass the administration on the eve of the Republican Convention. But I don‘t know whether that‘s true or not because I don‘t know who the source was or what the motive of the source was. ....................
WITT [Guest Host Alex Witt]: So my question to you, the timing of this release, it is Friday night. We‘re heading into the weekend, leading into the Republican National Convention. Anything to be tied to that?
JOHNSON [Larry Johnson, Former State Department official, former CIA agent]: Potentially, yes. You know, this would be a political black eye for the Bush administration if it turns out to be true. Well and again, it is—I know that the FBI has been very reluctant to talk about it. I‘ve been hearing about it through people who have had access to people who have been involved with the investigation. And they‘ve been trying to run down these various leads. ................
Posted by: Carswell at August 30, 2004 02:30 AMIt would have been better if this information were not leaked so the investigation could have been more thorough. I'm think the investigation is a routine matter; I'm pretty sure the DOD and the FBI oppose all spies (yeah, even if they're from Canada!). The leak, however, plays into the hands of many factions, including those who think this leak is part of a grand strategy to sink the US-Israel alliance.
Why shouldn't the FBI monitor Israeli spooks like Naor Gilon. Israel's spying on the US certainly did not end with Jonathan Pollard What about the Martin Indyk affair. How he escaped prosecution for giving his lap top to Mossad is amazing They had him dead to rights with thee secret meetings with former Mossad chief, Ephraim Halevy. All Indyk got was to have his clearance pulled for "sloppy handling of classified information". I will bet I could name at least 5 more Americans who are active agents of Influence for Israel and probably spying as well.
Posted by: Barry O'Connell at August 30, 2004 11:45 PM