SPY CASE LINKS ISRAELIS TO SALE OF ARMS TO IRAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302010003-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: June 6, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/09/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302010003-6
WALL STREET JOURNAL
6 June 1986
ARTICLE APPEARED
oti PAGE.? MI
Spy Case Links
'Israelis to Sale
Of Arms to Iran
Israel Asked Pollard to Study
U.S. Papers Analyzing
Foreign Missile Systems
By JOHN J. FIALKA
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
WASHINGTON ? Federal investigators
are turning up new evidence of an "Israeli
connection" between arms merchants and
cl4ndestine shipments of weapons to the
rlime of Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini.
The latest piece in this murky, interna-
tional puzzle fell into place this week when
federal prosecutors released court papers
connected with the case of Jonathan Pol-
lard, the U.S. Navy intelligence analyst
who has admitted spying for Israel.
The court document suggests that Mr.
Pollard's Israeli contacts were compiling a
catalog of secret U.S. analyses of the per-
formance of weapons systems used by
other non-Communist countries that might
fit ? the military needs of Iran.
The court papers show Mr. Pollard had
been asked by his Israeli supervisor to
search U.S. intelligence files for U.S.
analysis of foreign missile systems that
"might be available for sale to Iran." One
of Mr. Pollard's selections was CACTUS, a
French-built surface-to-air missile system
used by the South African Air Force.
"Cactus" became a pre-arranged code
word, which Mr. Pollard used after his ar-
rest in an unsuccessful attempt to signal
his wife to destroy a suitcase of stolen doc-
uments. These included a letter from Mr.
Pollard discussing other missiles that the
Israelis might ship to Iran.
Israeli officials have denied authorized
government involvement with Mr. Pollard,
and Menachem Meron, the departing di-
rector general of the nation's Defense Min-
istry, has stated that Israel stopped selling
arms to Iran four years ago.
While the Ayatollah Khomeini's funda-
mentalist Moslem regime isn't known for
its support of Israel, some U.S. officials be-
lieve that Israel doesn't want Iran to lose
or to stop its war with neighboring Iraq, a
country that Israel considers to be more
menacing. Israel's troubled economy may
also require maximum profits from its de-
fense industry, which is the country's larg-
est industry.
U.S. officials say mounting evidence
suggests Israeli-connected weapons are a
vital source of U.S. military parts, ammu-
nition and equipment for Iran, whose
armed forces were largely equipped with
U.S. hardware during the 1970s. Israel has
huge stockpiles of U.S. military equipment.
and it makes copies of some U.S. weapons,
such as the Sidewinder missile.
Three Other Cases
But U.S. investigators during the past
year have turned up three other cases of
attempted Iranian weapons deals in which
the middlemen had either direct or indi-
rect connections to the Israeli military or
Israel's defense industries.
I The biggest case resulted in the arrest
of Abraham Bar-Am, identified by the U.S.
Customs Service as a retired Israeli gen-
eral and adviser for Israel's Northern
Army Command. Mr. Bar-Am, two Israeli
businessmen, and two others were lured by
federal undercover agents to Bermuda,
where they allegedly attempted to sell U.S.
weapons to Iran valued at $343 million.
According to U.S. Customs Service
memoranda, the arrest was arranged in
Bermuda because Mr. Bar-Am had been
"instructed by Israeli agents not to enter
the U.S." The five, charged on April 21,
were later deported to New York where
they are in jail, pending a bail hearing.
Although Mr. Bar-Am carried a letter
from the Israeli Defense Ministry giving
him authority to open arms negotiations,
the Israeli government denied any connec-
tion with the attempted sale.
Last month, the Federal Bureau of In-
vestigation arrested Zeev Reiss, a lieuten-
ant colonel in the Israeli Army reserves,
and another Israeli named Gil Silva as
they arrived in New York after a flight
from Tel Aviv. The two men were charged
with attempting to export 3,819 U.S. anti-
tank missiles without a license. The sale
was intended for "Iran and Iraq," accord-
ing to court documents. Israeli government
officials also denied any knowledge of that
case.
Antitank Missiles
In another arms case linked to Israel,
two Americans?Paul Sjeklocha of San
Jose, Cal., and Charles St. Clair of Los An-
geles?were charged last August, along
with five others, with conspiring to sell
1,140 wire-guided antitank missiles to
Iran.
Mr. Sjeklocha, who was later convicted
along with Mr. St. Clair, bragged to under-
cover investigators that he had made at
least $6 million during two years of
weapons dealing with the Iranians.
Mr. Sjeklocha, also known as Paul Cut-
ter, was a member of the advisory board
of the Jewish Institute for National Secu-
rity Affairs, a Washington group that pro-
motes Israel's defense industries. Sho-
shana Bryen, executive director of the in-
stitute. said Mr. Sjeklocha was asked to
join the board in April 1983 after going on
an institute-sponsored tour of Israel. Sev-
eral retired U.S. generals and admirals
were also on that tour.
Mrs. Bryen said in an interview that
Mr. Sjeklocha remained in Israel after the
tour for further discussions. "He knew a
lot of Israeli people," she said, adding that
she asked Mr. Sjeklocha to leave the insti-
tute's board when she learned he was us-
ing his membership as a credential in
meetings with U.S. defense contractors.
She said she knew nothing of Mr. Sjeklo-
cha's arms dealings.
Mrs. Bryen is the wife of Stephen
Bryen. a deputy undersecretary at the De-
fense Department in charge of interna-
tional trade security policy.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/09/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302010003-6