SPY'S ACCESS CLEAR DESPITE HIS RECORD

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000402970007-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 8, 2012
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: June 8, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402970007-6
pin, scoLr=hr-r.AItU CHICAGO TRIBUNE
ON hg8 June 1986
Spy's ads clear
despite record
By Nichft
Ts M. HorroCk"
WASHINGTON-Key Reagan adminisUa on a&
ciais said that admitted spy Jonathan Jay Poltand' man.
aced to maintain one of the United States'
cxuuitty
earances despite a history of psychiatrictoy d mseoodties
that caused the Navy at one point to suspend his access
to national defense secrets.
According to with the h these sources, who are very 'slender
vestiption that last week result^
ed in Pollard pleading guilt F to charges of spying for
Israel, the 3 1-mar-old }levy intelligence analyst's pas is
perhaps the most example in recent years of a
U.S. security brea~.
The Navy has publicly acknowledged that' Pollatdi
d 1981 for "bizarre
security re, deance restored $I ea
year. Navy
spokesmen have rehised to comment further on the
case.
But other ent sources said that naval investi-
gators identified psychiatric difficulties both before and
after Pollard became a civilian employee of the Navy in
1979, and that despite this evidence he obtained a
clearance in 1983 that gave him access to "Special com-
partmentalized information," a higher level of access
than "top secret."
Pollard s behavior in 1981-outbursts so serious that
co-workers reported them, one source said-caused
him to be removed from one of his Navy assignments,
but did not deter the Navy from later assigning him to
a highly sensitive counterterrorism
organization at a Suitland, Md.,
"This background [of psychiatric
problems) should have been taken
into consideration in his security
clearance," said one official who
asked not to be identified by name
or title. Another called "murky"
the question of how Pollard
passed what should have been ex-
tensive screening for the clearan-
ces. "This is under reyiew," one
source said.
Pollard's unsuitability for a secu-
rity assignment is only one of sev-
eral issues still under investigation
in the sweeping Israeli espionage
operation uncovered by Poll 's
arrest Nov. 21 outside the Israeli
Embassy in Washington.
Pollard and his wife, Anne Hen-
derson Pollard, pleaded guilty to
criminal charges and are coopera-
ting with American authorities in
the continuing inquiry by a federal
grand jury here. American officials
said the Pollard case was a major
Israeli intelligence operation, au-
thorized at high levels and aimed
at getting information about Arab
states and American weapons that
the U.S. wouldn't sell them.
These are the key elements of
the continuing investigation, ac-
cording to these sources:
? Israel will be asked to punish
members of its intelligence service
who violated American law and
unwritten agreements between the
two countries by using Pollard to
obtain suitcases full of American,
intelligence documents. Though
U.S. officials have not ruled out
indicting and attempting to. prose-
cute Israeli citizens, the prolem is
complicated because a team of
American officials. that had inves-
tigated the case in Israel had gran-
ted immunity to several Israeli of-
ficials who gave them information.
? The possibility has not been
ruled out that additional American
citizens may be prosecuted as the
inquiry into the espionage case
widens. One source called this a
"very sensitive issue, ' but would
not deny there is information in
the case implicating additional
Americans.
? The Defense Department has
begun an internal review of how
Pollard's security clearance was
handled, and the effort tp assess
the damage of his spying still is
incomplete. The U.S. is seeking
further help from the Israelis on
what Pollard gave them in order
to complete this assessment.
What has concerned Justice De-
partment and FBI officials in-
volved- in the case is the number
of warning signals about Pollard's
unsuitability for a security clear-
ance that were available to De-
partment of Defense investigators
who conducted the screening. Pol-,
lard is one of some 4.3 million
Americans who hold security
clearances, and his background in-
vestigation was conducted by civil-
ian employees of the department.
Numerous government officials
have admitted in the past several
years that many of the reviews are
shoddy and perfunctory. One sen-
ior Naval official argues that coun-
terintelligence in the armed forces
has totally disintegrated.
During his college years at Stan-
ford University and his graduate
studies in Boston, Pollard, who
was born ao raised in the U.S.,
often told associates that he was
an operative of Israeli intelligence
and in several instances described
himself as being a "colonel" in the
Israeli armed forces.
He also claimed, according to
press interviews, that he spied for
the Pakistanis and East Germans.
Many associates have ? said he
seemed to live in a "fantasy"
world and was mesmerized by the
world of espionage. He told people
that he had undergone military
training in Israel. This information
was available to Navy investiga-
tors, these sources said, but not
considered.
.C0Ar 1VUt
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402970007-6
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402970007-6
At the same time that the De-
fense Department is reviewing
how Pollard got his clearance, Jus-
tice and FBA officials are continu-
ing with the 'criminal espionage in-
vestigation. They want to
interview Israeli Air Force Gen.
Aviem "Avi" Sella, who has been
described as the key agent in re-
cruiting Pollard.
In 1984, Sella, then a colonel,
was attending New York Universi-
ty graduate school. Pollard met
him through an American citizen
who has not been publicly identi-
fied. In December, 1985, a team
of U. S. lawyers went to Israel to'
investigate the case and the Israelis
pledged full cooperation.
They permitted American offi-
cials to interview several other Is-
raelis who had been dealing with
Pollard in the U.S. but did not ex-
plain Sella's role, and he was not
interviewed. Those Israelis inter-
viewed were given commitments
that they would not be prosecuted
for what they said.
After Pollard and his wife began
cooperating with investigators and
other information became availa-
ble, it was clear to American
lawmen that the Israelis had not
been totally forthcoming about the
operation. "It was not that they
misled us in the positive sense ...
that they gave us false informa-
tion," one official said. "It was
what they didn't tell us.
"They failed and failed terribly
in not vigorously investigating the
matter as the prime minister
[Shimon Peres) had promised,"
this source said.
Israeli officials now are trying to
persuade the U.S. that Sella
"didn't know anything about the
case," and that his testimony will
not be helpful.
A
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402970007-6