World

Lobby Targeted

New revelations in AIPAC case as
indictment of ex-staffers is expected.

RON KAMPEAS AND
MATTHEW E. BERGER

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Washington
wo former staffers at the
American Israel Public Affairs
Committee facing indictment
on espionage charges shared allegedly
classified information at the crux of
the case against them with AIPAC's
executive director as soon as they
received it.
Howard Kohr had no idea that the
information in the July 21, 2004, e-
mail from Keith Weissman, then
AIPAC's Iran analyst, was classified,
multiple sources said, and the govern-
ment has told AIPAC that Kohr is not
the subject of any investigation. Kohr
did not further disseminate the infor-
mation, sources familiar with the
events said.
A spokesman for AIPAC categorical-
ly denied any wrongdoing. "No cur-
rent employee of AIPAC knew that
classified information was obtained
from Larry Franklin," the Pentagon
analyst who allegedly give Weissman
the information, "or was involved in
the dissemination of such informa-
tion," spokesman Patrick Dorton said.
"AIPAC does not seek, use or
request anything but legal and appro-
priate information as part of its work."
Weissman and Steve Rosen, AIPAC's
former policy director, could be
indicted this month or next for
allegedly passing information to an
Israeli Embassy official, Naor Gilon,
the chief political officer. AIPAC fired
Weissman and Rosen in March
because of information it says arose
out of the investigation.
The government is considering a
public arrest of Rosen, sources say, a
signal of the tough posture it plans to
take on the case. Such hardball tactics
— which included two public raids of
AIPAC offices — have prompted new
criticism and questions from Jewish
leaders.
Some fear that the case will inhibit
the functioning of Jewish organiza-
tions and others that deal with the
executive branch. "Not just Jewish
organizations, but lobbyists in gener-

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2005

Is

al," said Abraham Foxman, national
director of the Anti-Defamation
League. "Lawyers will be telling their
clients, 'Let's look at practices.'"

Why Fired?

The revelation of the e-mail to Kohr
raises questions about the intentions
of Rosen and Weissman in obtaining
and sharing the allegedly classified
information. The FBI knows about
the e-mail, sources said, and its exis-
tence apparently was the subject of
much scrutiny by a grand jury con-
vened in January to consider the case.
The apparent rush by Weissman and
Rosen to tell their boss the new infor-
mation could reinforce the defense
contention that they were not lone
wolves bent on espionage — as
sources close to the defense believe the
government plans to argue — but lob-
byists sharing inside information, as
was their job. That is to be the crux of
the two men's defense, sources said.
The revelation of the e-mail to Kohr
also raises the question of why AIPAC
fired Rosen and Weissman after
months of defending their integrity.
Some AIPAC donors and Jewish com-
munity leaders have asked whether it
was appropriate for the organization to
fire the two if the acts at the center of
the investigation were part of their
daily routine as lobbyists.
However, a source close to AIPAC
suggested that what the men did was
far from routine. "Rosen and
Weissman were dismissed because they
engaged in conduct that was not part
of their job and was beneath the stan-
dards of what AIPAC expects of their
employees," the source said.
Franklin, the Pentagon Iran analyst
who allegedly told Weissman that
Israeli agents supposedly in northern
Iraq faced grave danger, pled not
guilty June 13 to relaying classified
information to Rosen, Weissman and
Gilon on earlier occasions.
Sources close to the defense say the
U.S. attorney's office in northern
Virginia plans an aggressive prosecu-
tion, especially of Rosen. Prosecutors
have indicated they want Rosen arrest-
ed and "perp walked" — led into the
courthouse in handcuffs — for the

cameras, the sources say, and may
object to bail.
Prosecutors let Franklin turn him-
self in, and they intend to make the
same allowance for Weissman, the
sources said. A spokeswoman for U.S.
Attorney Paul McNulty would not
comment, nor would lawyers for
Rosen, Weissman or Franklin.
The notion that Iranian agents
planned to kidnap, torture and kill
Israeli and American agents in north-
ern Iraq allegedly was fed to
Weissman last July 21 by Franklin as
part of an apparent FBI sting against
Rosen and Weissman. The crux of the
government's case, defense sources say,
is the conversation Rosen and
Weissman allegedly had the same day
with Gilon.

FBI Sting

Prosecutors are likely to say that con-
versation violated the 1917 Espionage
Act, which could be interpreted as
banning the relaying of classified
information to a foreign power. Rosen
and Weissman will claim that they did
not realize at the time that the infor-
mation was classified, defense sources
say.
Sources say Kohr did not know that
Rosen and Weissman called Gilon and
Glenn Kessler, the State Department
correspondent for the Washington
Post, subsequent to Kohr's meeting
with the two staffers and his receipt of
the e-mail summarizing the informa-
tion on Iraq. Sources close to the
defense contend that such contacts
with the media and Israeli diplomats
were routine.
AIPAC officials have been assured
by the government that investigators
aren't targeting the organization or
any current staffer, including Kohr.
"We now know directly from the gov-
ernment that neither AIPAC, nor any
of its current employees, is or ever has
been the target of this investigation,"
Kohr said in a May 22 speech at the
AIPAC policy conference in
Washington.
Franklin is accused of relaying clas-
sified information to Rosen,
Weissman and Gilon in 2002 and
2003. By July 21, 2004, he was coop-
erating with the FBI. He later ended
that cooperation, which led the FBI
to reinstate its case against him.
Defense sources say that if indict-
ments against Rosen and Weissman
come down, some of their other con-
tacts with Franklin also will be raised,
but the July 21 sting is the core of the
government's case. ❑

online Petition
Focus Is Peace

DON COHEN

Special to the Jewish Newss

I

n the quest for peace in the
Middle East, a group of promi-
nent Americans want to be sure
that extremist voices don't drown out
what they say is the peace-seeking
majority. To amplify the voice of this
majority, the Campaign for American
Leadership in the Middle East has creat-
ed an online petition to President Bush
(www.mideastcalm.org).
The CALME petition urges President
Bush to make resolution of the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict a "central and sus-
tained objective of American foreign
policy" in order to "enhance our efforts
to build a secure, stable and more dem-
ocratic Middle East, and in so doing,
serve U.S. national security interests."
Described by one of its prime organ-
izers, Detroiter Joel
Tauber, as "a grass-
roots effort of a
group of concerned
Americans,"
CALME is making
a push to get
Americans to sign
on. Initial endorsers
include former
Joel Tauber
diplomats and
politicians such as
former Clinton cabinet members
William Cohen, Madeline Albright and
Donna Shalala as well as military offi-
cers, business executives and religious
leaders. While heavy with Jewish names,
the list includes a few prominent Arab
Americans like Jim Zogby and George
Salem of the Arab-American Institute.
While not taking a position on exact-
ly what is necessary for a peaceful reso-
lution of the conflict, the petition recog-
nizes and supports movement towards
"a two-state solution, rigorous security
guarantees and the protection of human
rights and access to holy sites."
"There is a real window of opportuni-
ty that can close very quickly," former
Defense Secretary Cohen said during a
June 16 teleconference. "We want to
make sure President Bush knows he has
strong support."
Adds Tauber, "We're not looking to
make a value judgment on the actions
of the president. We want that the presi-
dent should stay focused and remain
involved in resolution of the Palestinian-
Israeli situation." ❑