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MICHAEL LEVEY FAMILY

Security Breach?

EAffaire Indyk I; l'Affaire Indyk II;
drugs in limbo; soap story.

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JAMES D. BESSER

Washington Correspondent

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T

he suspension of Martin
Indyk, the first Jew to serve as
U.S. ambassador to Israel, has
stunned Jewish leaders in the
United States and triggered concerns
that election-year politics could
turn a simple security matter
into a partisan free-for-all.
Indyk is being investigated
by federal authorities for possi-
ble security lapses.
Indyk is the first ambassa-
dor ever to be stripped of his
security clearances. The
action means that he cannot
play an active role in the
Martin
complex Israeli-Palestinian
negotiations that were set to
resume in the Washington area this
week.
"Obviously, the fact that he doesn't
have a security clearance and therefore is
not able to participate in the delibera-
tions makes things more difficult
because he has been an important mem-
ber of the team," said State Department
spokesman Richard Boucher.
Boucher indicated that four other
employees have had their clearance
yanked since the beginning of the year,
although none of the others is of ambas-
sadorial rank.
Indyk has close relations with the gov-
ernment of Prime Minister Ehud Barak,
a fact that has incensed members of the
Likud opposition and their backers in
Washington.
Sources suggest that there are a num-
ber of factors behind Indyk's predica-
ment. At the top of the list: a frantic
government crackdown following the
discovery earlier in the year of a listening
device in a State Department conference
room and a missing laptop computer,
and fears by administration officials that
they will be branded as soft on security
by congressional Republicans.
Washington sources say Indyk is being
investigated for violating strict proce-
dures on the handling of confidential
documents, not for sharing vital infor-
mation with other countries.
But other factors may help explain
why Indyk is the only ambassador who
has gotten caught in the security drag-
net, even though many reportedly have

been casual in their treatment of classi-
fied materials.
Among those possible factors: linger-
ing anti-Semitism at the State
Department, Indyk's brusque and
assertive personal style and resentment
over his unusual personal history.
Indyk, an Australian, did not become
a U.S. citizen until shortly
before he was appointed to
the National Security Council
staff in 1993. He also worked
for the pro-Israel lobby and
headed a pro-Israel think tank
before he joined the Clinton
administration.
But Jewish leaders cau-
tioned against jumping to
conclusions, especially on the
Indyk
sensitive issue of anti-
Semitism.
"You have to look at the context," said
Jess Hordes, Washington director for the
Anti-Defamation League. "The State
Department has a problem with security
breaches and lapses, and it has been
under very strong pressure to improve its
procedures. This case could reflect a
response to that pressure; it may reflect
an overzealousness."
Adding to the pressure is the uproar
caused by the government's apparent
mishandling of the Wen Ho Lee nuclear
secrets case.
The Indyk case has become even
harder to sort out, Hordes said, because
of "a partisan political overlay. There are
some in Congress who are very eager to
use this to talk about what they say is
the administration's inability to deal with
security issues."

EAffaire Indyk II

Indyk was embattled on another front, as
well. Last week, the Conference of
Presidents of Major American Jewish
Organizations urgently asked for "clarifi-
cation" of the envoy's comments on
Jerusalem. During a speech at the
Hebrew Union College in Israel, Indyk
said that Jerusalem "is not, and cannot
be the exclusive preserve of one religion,"
and that "Jerusalem needs to be shared."
That prompted demands for his
removal by the president of the Zionist
Organization of America, a persistent
Indyk critic, and more muted expressions
of concern from other Jewish leaders.

