A Web Of Intrigue Inside the Israel espionage investigation

[seemslikeadream]

By BRIAN BENNETT, ELAINE SHANNON AND ADAM ZAGORIN

........

At that time, the FBI was already deep into its investigation of AIPAC. A former U.S. official interviewed by the FBI more than a year ago told TIME that the bureau sought information on key AIPAC personnel, their meetings with White House and other national-security officials in Washington and even details about their personal lives. At one point, the FBI was surveilling a meeting between an Israeli diplomat and an AIPAC official when the Pentagon's Franklin suddenly appeared, igniting concerns. Franklin, a former Air Force Reserve officer, served briefly in the U.S. military attache's office in Israel in the late 1990s. Since the summer of 2001, he has worked as an Iran expert for Douglas Feith, the Pentagon's third ranking official, a neoconservative long in favor of tougher measures against Iran. In 2001 Franklin and a Pentagon colleague were dispatched to Rome for a meeting with Manucher Ghorbanifar, an Iranian arms dealer who had been a key figure in the 1980s' Iran-contra scandal. They were seeking intelligence on Iran from him. But the CIA has long considered Ghorbanifar unreliable, and the Bush Administration later cut off the contacts.

According to a former U.S. government source, the material Franklin passed to AIPAC included a draft of a National Security Presidential Directive dealing with U.S. policy on Iran. The document, a source says, had gone through several versions without ever achieving the status of official U.S. policy because of deep disagreements within the Administration over how to cope with Iran. A source familiar with multiple drafts of the document said it was a "glorified Op-Ed looking at how engagement doesn't work and how the U.S. needs a more robust strategy." A former senior U.S. official who also saw the drafts told TIME the directive did not explicitly call for regime change in Tehran and left open the possibility of cooperation with the Iranians on matters of mutual interest.

Meanwhile, a former case officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency says that when he was questioned in the I.N.C. case, the FBI seemed frustrated in that investigation. That case officer, who worked alongside I.N.C. intelligence gatherers at the time of the alleged breach, says he was interrogated and polygraphed by the FBI. He contended to TIME that the allegations against the I.N.C. are baseless and that the bureau is "grasping at straws." U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement officials insist that U.S. intercepts of Iranian communications prove that secrets about U.S. code-breaking were gravely breached and that the only question is, Who is to blame?

more
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101040913-692835-2,00.html

[lovuian]

1. You would think President Bush would be concerned

CIA Intel has been wrong about WMD
CIA agent Plame exposed by News Media purposefully by leaders in the Whitehouse

And Now Double agent Chalabi
the topping is Israeli Agents who get salaries paid by Us Americans

Ask yourself the question are these White House officals we pay salaries too Our Employess or somebody elses???

[AP]

2. You'd think that on one of those Orange Alert days, somebody might have

said something about these guys. You know. Like someone in the government.

But apparently Orange Alerts really signify something sporadic and lame that the public is asked to deal with on their own while the government is doing who knows what.

I wish the people could call on Orange Alert on the government: "Hey, Bush! Orange Alert! Look for spies in the DoD today, please!"

[grasswire]

3. the prosecutor is a Bush FIXER

I hate to sound like a broken record, but this is really, really important.

Look what has happened. The FBI was about to make arrests on Friday. Ashcroft tossed the matter to Paul J. McNulty, in Bushco's rocket docket in Alexandria. Paul J. McNulty is a FIXER. A FIXER. Waco investigation, Clinton impeachment, Florida recount, Ashcroft nomination, John Walker LIndh --- a FIXER. This whole matter is going down the rabbit hole.

http://www.nysun.com/article/1212

>>>>>According to sources familiar with the investigation, the U.S. district attorney in charge of the probe, Paul McNulty, has ordered the FBI not to move forward with arrests that they were prepared to make last Friday when the story broke on CNN and CBS. "He put the brakes on it in order to look at it," a source familiar with the investigation told the Sun. "To see what was there. Basically the FBI wanted to start making arrests and McNulty said 'Woa, based on what? Let's look at this before you do anything.'"

Mr. Franklin's security clearances were revoked in June, according to administration officials, and the FBI has tailed two staff members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee for at least a year. Early press reports alleged Mr. Franklin passed the draft policy paper to those Aipac officials. The two Aipac Iran analysts, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, have retained a well known criminal defense attorney, Abbe Lowell, for counsel.

Mr. McNulty was only assigned the case by Attorney General Ashcroft last Friday when federal agents came to Aipac's offices in Washington to request files and hard drives. "Ashcroft wanted to make sure this case was being handled properly," the source familiar with the probe said. "I would not expect any action on this for at least three weeks." This source added that a grand jury is now being selected, but it was likely the charges, initially reported as espionage, would be scaled back to the mishandling of classified information.<<<<<

Paul J. McNulty:

"McNulty is accustomed to high-profile, high-pressure situations. He was chief counsel to the House subcommittee on crime during hearings into the disastrous 1993 federal raid on the Branch Davidian compound outside Waco, Texas.And he served as chief counsel and spokesman for House Judiciary Committee Republicans during impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton.During a nighttime jog on Washington's National Mall, McNulty conceived then-House Judiciary Chairman Henry Hyde's opening statement for the Senate trial. McNulty contemplated the oath that the 100 senators would take at the trial's outset, the oath of office that the president took to uphold the Constitution and the oath that Clinton took when he testified.McNulty realized that the concept of the oath unified his thoughts."The oath," Hyde, R-Ill., would say later on the Senate floor. "In many ways the case you will consider in the coming days is about those two words: 'I do.'"McNulty later served as chief counsel to House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas. McNulty returned to the Justice Department, where he served as chief spokesman under President George H.W. Bush. A year ago, McNulty headed the younger Bush's transition team and prepared Attorney General nominee John Ashcroft for his Senate confirmation hearings.Knowing that Ashcroft's hearings would be contentious, McNulty assembled top GOP lawyers to brainstorm questions that the former Missouri senator would face. By the time the hearing began, McNulty had prepared a weighty briefing book with appropriate answers.As Democrats grilled Ashcroft about his support for civil rights, McNulty sat just behind his elbow, straining forward as he balanced the book on his lap."
http://www.post-gazette.com/regionstate/20020128newsmakerreg4p4.asp

[seemslikeadream]

4. Thanks grasswire

It needs to be said often

[The Straight Story]

5. Israeli's own phone networks the government uses (some)

I am sure they could tap lines and get info that way (and yes I know this first hand, at least the defense dept and treasury dept, can't swear outside that what all they handle). It gets more interesting but I will leave that for another time.

And no, I am not someone who sees the jews as world dominating, conspiracy buff, etc and so on. Personally I admire them in many ways and have a deep respect, but I won't treat them with kid gloves any more than I would bush or anyone else. They have a lobby, they have spies, they have motivation, resources, and so on like many other nations.

They are fair game, and I can say from personal experience they have tentacles deep into the telecomm industry (and no, I am not talking about the 60 minutes piece from a few years back). This does not make them evil or bad, duh :) but it does require scrutiny when they are known to have spied (and obviously still do) and that spying we see as a negative. As a U.S. citizen it is my duty to point out areas which I find we are weak in - and in this case I know well of the telco side (in some cases as relating to the company I was with).

Do I know of illegal actions? Perhaps a few, but not related to spying. But I know enough that I would hope that the government already has things covered on the telco side and are aware of things.

[Eloriel]

6. For the morning crowd

:kick: