Metro
His Religion At Issue
Civilian engineer and his wife sue Army for false spy charges.
Judith Doner Berne
being investigated — because he was
Jewish."
"Everything else is completely rebutted
by their own documents and testimony,"
seconds co-attorney Daniel E. Harold. "No
evidence is 'no' evidence. They can't use
state secrets again because it was improp-
erly invoked. The only thing that remains
is that David is Jewish!'
That is also the consensus of a report
issued last July by the then-DOD Inspector
General, following a request for an investi-
gation from U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.,
chairman of the Senate Armed Services
Committee.
"We believe that Mr. Tenenbaum was
subjected to unusual and unwelcome
scrutiny because of his faith and eth-
nic background, a practice that would
undoubtedly fit a definition of discrimina-
tion, whether actionable or not:' according
to the Inspector General's report.
Special to the Jewish News
F
or David Tenenbaum, a U.S. Army
civilian engineer, husband and
father of four, it has taken more
than a decade to launch his latest shot
against the military Goliath that falsely
accused him of spying for Israel.
On Feb. 18, Tenenbaum and his wife,
Madeline, filed suit in U.S. District Court in
Detroit against the Department of Defense
(DOD), the U.S. Army, the Defense Security
Service, the Department of Justice, former
attorney general John Ashcroft, former
assistant attorney general Paul Wolfowitz
and five "instigating defendants!' The suit
alleges that Tenenbaum was targeted as a
spy only because he was Jewish.
The Tenenbaums' suit seeks more
than $200 million in compensatory, con-
sequential and punitive damages plus
interest, costs and fees for their attorneys
at Morganroth & Morganroth, PLLC,
Southfield.
"What person would trade what's he's
going through for the money:' says Mayer
Morganroth. "But unless they pay those
kinds of damages, they'll just do it again!'
"It's not just a Tenenbaum issue, not
just a Jewish issue; it's a civil rights issue
Tenenbaum, 51, says. "I haven't been pub-
licly exonerated. You're not just fighting for
yourself'
Going Back
In February 1997, Tenenbaum, an Orthodox
Jew from Southfield, was involuntarily
placed on leave of absence from his job
at the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and
Armaments Command (TACOM) in Warren
and his home was raided by the FBI.
After a year of investigations, during
which he and his family were under sur-
veillance, the Department of Justice and
FBI announced no evidence of criminal
findings against him. Although he was
reinstated, eventually with top security
clearance, he says he has been given little
responsibility and shunned by co-workers.
Despite a doctorate in international
business and the work he previously did
on reducing the impact of secondary
shrapnel on military vehicles, Tenenbaum
says no one will hire him because of the
cloud hanging over him.
"It's hard when you walk into a place
where you know you're not wanted:' he
says. "I can't get any other job. They would
Second Opinions
"It's not just a Tenenbaum issue, not just a Jewish
issue; its a civil rights issue. I haven't been publicly
exonerated. You're not just fighting for yourself"
- David Tenenbaum
be hiring an albatross. My wife keeps me
on track!'
"To see him almost vegetating, to see the
squelching of his potential" is what most
bothers Madeline Tenenbaum. She turns to
"my faith and my network of support" as
well as her work as a massage therapist.
"When you hook into a belief system
that teaches that everything is intercon-
nected, it's a very stabilizing thought:' she
says. "An important key is believing that
you grow even from bad things. I try to
bring it back to chow am I supposed to be
growing from this!"
She relies on friends, rabbis and "our
lawyers, who have gotten me emotionally
through it. They are so accessible!'
And when she is working, "the interac-
tion with other women on a purely experi-
ential level takes me out of myself!'
One More Time
This is the Tenenbaums' second go-round
against the Army and defense department
for religious discrimination. Their 2002
federal suit was dismissed after Ashcroft
and Wolfowitz signed affidavits support-
ing the Army's state secrets defense that
was raised once depositions had been
taken. Appellate court and U.S. Supreme
Court appeals were denied.
"Why didn't they invoke 'state secrets'
from the beginning?" Morganroth says.
"If it was really state secrets, you don't
wait until your people have testified under
oath. It all comes down to why he was
But the Army appears to be hedging. That
report was recently challenged by the
Army's General Counsel Benedict Cohen,
according to a Jan. 12 Associated Press story.
Cohen says it was Tenenbaum's suspi-
cious behavior and later his "deceptive
responses" during a lie detector test "that
led the Army to conclude he may have
been passing classified information to
Israel:' according to the AP story.
And, on Jan. 5, Levin received this letter
from a new acting DOD Inspector General,
Gordon S. Heddell: "I have reviewed the
information and believe that Army offi-
cials had a reasonable basis to believe that
Mr. Tenenbaum may have been involved in
espionage activities. It is my opinion that
certain actions taken by the Army ... were
not appropriate:'
"The Army is inexplicably attempting
to rewrite history;' say the Morganroth
lawyers. Instead of accepting responsibil-
ity for causing 12 years and counting of
irreparable damages to Tenenbaum and his
family, the Army is irresponsibly and rep-
rehensibly attempting to defend the actions
perpetrated against the Tenenbaums ..."
The jury trial has been assigned to U.S.
District Judge John Feikens of Detroit.
Defendants have 60 days to answer the
complaints.
"If the case comes to trial, it will be
lengthy," Morganroth predicts. "Justice
doesn't come quickly. Hopefully, the gov-
ernment will do what is right:' P1
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March 5 • 2009
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