U.S. Accuses Israel
Of Tech Smuggling Plot
WOLF BLITZER
Special to The Jewish News
W
ashington — The
U.S. Justice Depart-
ment has accused
Israel of participating in a
conspiracy to smuggle re-
stricted technology for the
manufacture of tank cannon
barrels out of the United
States.
The Israeli Embassy in
Washington has flatly denied
the allegation. "We are confi-
dent that any review will
establish that Israel Military
Industries (IMI) and the
Government of Israel and its
employees had acted in full
compliance with U.S. laws
and regulations:' Embassy
spokesman Yossi Gal said.
The Pentagon, so far, has
not yet issued any formal
statement on the dispute,
which resurfaced when the
Justice Department an-
nounced that a Connecticut
company, NAPCO Inc., had
agreed to pay $750,000 in
fines for violating U.S. export
law by smuggling equipment
and technology to Israel for
manufacture of the 120 mm
tank barrel cannons.
The guilty plea followed a
two-year investigation by the
Justice Department, the
Customs Service and other
U.S. law-enforcement
agencies.
The issue was first publi-
cized when federal agents
raided NAPCO's headquar-
ters in 1985. At that time,
Israel also denied any wrong-
doing, insisting that NAPCO
was solely responsible for ob-
taining the required export
licenses.
A year earlier, in 1984,
NAPCO had signed a con-
tract with IMI to construct a
factory in Israel that would
use a new and highly sophis-
ticated technology to
chromeplate the interiors of
120 mm cannon barrels
"without having first ob-
tained a validated export
license from the United
States Department of Com-
merce," according to court
papers. The new technology
enables the tank barrels to be
produced faster, and at less
cost, than older processes.
In 1984, the papers said,
Israel had made plans with
NAPCO to build a in Israel at
a cost of approximately $1.9
million. NAPCO's profit was
projected to be between
$150,000 to $200,000.
The contract stipulated that
NAPCO was responsible for
obtaining "whatever licenses
were necessary for the expor-
tation of technology and
equipment to Israel." The
court papers said that NAP-
CO subsequently informed
IMI that no export licenses
were required.
But the court documents
also said that around the time
that the contract was signed,
IMI advised NAPCO that the
facility would in fact be used
to chromeplate (the interior
of) 120 mm cannons.
"Because IMI's development
of this cannon was secret,
however, IMI asked NAPCO
not to refer to the cannon as
such but instead to refer to
the 120 mm cannon as a
`hydraulic cylinder,' " the
papers said. "Thus, in all
communications between
Israel and NAPCO concern-
ing the facility, the 120 can-
non was referred to as a 'hyn-
draulic cylinder? "
Israeli officials insisted that
they had accurately informed
the Pentagon about the pro-
posed factory. Indeed, they
said that they had written
documentation to prove that
they had not misled the
Defense Department, al-
though they refused to make
it available. Israeli officials
said they expect the Pentagon
eventually to back up the
Israeli version.
The Washington Post quoted
a U.S. Justice Department of-
ficial as saying that the U.S.
foreign aid program financed
construction of a facility in
Israel that is now using
smuggled American
technology. The official added
that the papers filed in court
make it clear that Israel did
in fact try to hide the purpose
of the plant when seeking
U.S. government financing for
the project.
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