THE LIMITS OF PATIENCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504100013-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: December 3, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

- Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504100013-1
The Limits of Patience
T he Israelis began with a lot of
bluster in the case of Jonathan Jay
Pollard, the civilian U.S. Navy
counterterrorist analyst charged with
spying for Israel. For a week, they
stonewalled.
Their weekend apology, although
hailed by Secretary of State George P.
Shultz as "excellent," sounded
halfhearted. The government said it
wal sorry for the espionage "to the
extent it did take place." The statement
said nothing about returning the
documents or making available the two
spy-handlers who fled the country after
Pollard was nabbed seeking asylum in
the Israeli Embassy in Washington.
Subsequently, the Israeli government
decided to make some concessions,
agreeing to let American officials
question the two handlers and give back
the documents.
The American people have a long
history of admiration for and
forbearance with Israel We support its
government to the tune of $14 million a
day. We share intelligence. We have our
ships overhauled in its harbor. We buy
some of its weapons; we let them
battle-test some of ours.
Even when the Israelis bombed our
spy-ship, the USS Liberty, we forgave
them. The Israelis have every reason to
think they can do no wrong.
Nothing diminishes the respect and
fear of American politicians for the
power of the Jewish vote.
Anyone looking for confirmation of
that political reality had only to listen to
what was said over the weekend.
President Reagan, a politician who
breaks many of the rules, took note in
his Saturday radio broadcast of the rash
of spooks discovered lately. He took the
upbeat view that we have simply
become more adept at catching them
and went on and on about the KGB and
the sophisticated techniques it uses to
"steal our secrets and technology."
He did not mention Israel.
On the Sunday television show "This
Week With David Brinkley," Sen. Daniel
Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) thundered
about espionage that "we should start
pulling out fingernails to make clear it's
not funny, not worth it and it won't be
tolerated."
But about Israel, he purred. "They've
offered us a very handsome apology.
We can straighten this out in no time.'
Apparently the Israelis became
convinced that Americans would not
take kindly to having their tax dollars
used to finance being spied on. And
their friends in the American Jewish
WASHINGTON POST
3 December 1985
MARY McGRORY
community must have prevailed upon
them to take seriously the perils of the
specter of "dual loyalty" on the part of
American Jews.
No talk of a possible curtailment of
aid to Israel was heard in the aftermath
of this most shocking of the spy cases.
To some Americans it was as if
England, or Canada, had been involved.
When Ghana, another friendly country,
was caught passing our secrets, there
were immediate cries for revenge on
the fiscal front.
The Israelis have promised to
conduct their own investigation of the
Pollard a4air. They do well at
investigating their own crimes. But
they are dependent on us. and we are in
a position to set some rules and
conditions. Treason is a grave matter,
and we should not be put off by their
rationalization that Pollard volunteered
to spy, that he fed them only what
related to their security or what we
should have given them anyway. Or,
that we spy on them, too.
Can you imagine us buying any of
that if a U.S. citizen were found spying
for Nicaragua?
The other recent cases tell more
about our count operations. Larry
Wu-Tai Chin. a Chinese American
accused of selling secrets to Peking for
30 years, worked for the Central
Intelligence Agency from %$2 until
1981 and was a consultant to the CIA at
the time of his arrest. Apparently, none
of o Soles in China noticed how Chin
was lionized during his many trips to
that country.
Ronald William Pelton, who was close
to destitute, had severe housing
problems. He lived in a squalid trailer,
despite a well-paid job with the
super-secret National Security Agency.
He tried to build a new house, but after
two years of construction, itwas not
finished. He allegedly began to sell
secrets to the Soviets.
At least Pelton and Chin were
charged with spying for America's
adversaries. Israel, on the other hand,
is our friend-and our client.
We treat Israel differently from any
other country in the world. We do it
gladly for the most part, but now we
feel she has taken advantage of us.
Unless she comes clean, she may find
there are limits to U.S. patience. If she
has to reveal that we spied on her as
well, we have to be,ready to handle
that, too.
It's no longer the mark of a paranoid
to say there are spies everywhere.
Obviously, there are.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504100013-1