AMERICAN GETS LIFE FOR GIVING SECRETS TO ISRAEL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807320003-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 12, 2012
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: March 5, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sl Dleclassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807320003-2
ARf1CLEAPr1G!' r
American Gets
Life for Giving
Secrets to Israel
By LESLIE MAITLAND WERNER
specui to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, March 4 - Jona-
than Jay Pollard, a former civilian in-
telligence analyst for the Navy who
pleaded guilty to spying for Israel, was
sentenced to life in prison today in a
highly emotional session in Federal
District Court here.
As Judge Aubrey E. Robinson Jr.
pronounced sentence on the defendant,
Mr. Pollard's wife, Anne Henderson
Pollard, fell to floor screaming, "No!
No!" in front of the crowded, hushed
courtroom.
Helped to her feet by her husband,
Mrs. Pollard, 26 years old, regained her
composure long enough to hear the
judge sentence her to two concurrent
five-year prison terms for her role in
the espionage conspiracy. Mrs. Pol-
lard, who had pleaded guilty to conspir-
acy to receive embezzled Government
property and to possession of national
defense documents, again screamed
and was led away sobbing by Federal
marshals.
The sentencing of Mr. Pollard, 32,
who had access to sensitive documents
through his position with the Navy's
Anti-Terrorist Alert Center in Suitland,
Md., closes the latest of a recent series
of celebrated spy cases in this country.
Among them, John A. Walker Jr., a
retired chief warrant officer in the
Navy, was sentenced last year to life in
prison with a recommendation from
the judge for no parole after pleading
guilty to providing classified Navy
documents to the Soviet Union. Jerry
A. Whitworth, his partner, was sen-
tenced to 365 years in prison and fined
$410,000, and Michael L. Walker, his
son, was sentenced to 25 years in prison
with a recommendation of no parole.
In the Pollard case, the Justice De-
partment had not specifically asked for
a life sentence, but for "substantial" in-
carceration. That request came as part
of the plea agreement under which the
Pollards pleaded guilty and promised
to cooperate with the authorities in pur-'
suing the investigation.
NEW YORK TIMES
5 ,!arch 1g87
Israeli's Indictment Cited
Richard A. Hibey, the lawyer for Mr.
Pollard, noted today that his client's
assistance had been instrumental in
the indictment obtained by the Govern-
ment yesterday against a high-ranking
Israeli Air Force officer, Aviem Sella,
who was accused of espionage.
But Judge Robinson's decision to
sentence Mr. Pollard, a Stanford
graduate who attended the Fletcher
School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts
University, to the maximum sentence
for espionage had been signaled earlier
in the proceedings. The judge disputed
defense arguments that Mr. Pollard's
crime in providing classified informa-
tion to Israel had not harmed the,
United States because Israel is a close
ally.
"The damage here is not serious
damage to the United States," Mr.
Hibey told Judge Robinson.
But the judge said, "I fail to see how
you can make that claim," in view of a
classified affidavit from Secretary of
Defense Caspar W. Weinberger that
outlined the precise nature of the
done to United States intelligence
sources and methods.
Parole Called Unlikely
Later, out of court, the United States
Attorney for the District of Columbia,
Joseph E. diGenova, said the "severity
of the sentence is the best evidence of
the gravity of the damage done to na-
tional security by Mr. Pollard's espio-
nage operation."
Mr. diGenova added that, given the
factors parole boards take into ac-
count, "It's highly unlikely that he'll
become eligible for parole." He added
that Mrs. Pollard would probably serve
most of her sentence before being re-
leased.
An assistant United States Attorney,
Charles S. Leeper, also disputed the
couple's arguments that Mr. Pollard i
did not mean to injure the United I
States.
"This defendant has admitted that
he sold to Israel a volume of classified
documents 10 feet by 6 feet by 6 feet,"
Mr. Leeper said, drawing a picture in
the air to suggest the magnitude of the
theft. He said Mr. Pollard provided Is-
rael with thousands of pages, including
secret information on the location of
American ships and training exercises.
In another affidavit that Mr. Wein-
berger submitted to the court Tuesday,
the Defense Secretary said, "It is diffi-
cult for me, even in the so-called year
of the spy, to conceive of a greater
harm to national security than that
caused by the defendant in view of the
breadth, the critical importance to the
U.S., and the high sensitivity of the in-
formation he sold to Israel."
Intentions Said Corrupted
Mr. Hibey, in pleading for leniency
for Mr. Pollard, said his client's com-
mitment to the continued existence of
Israel had led him to espionage. But
Mr. Pollard's motivation to help Israel,
he said, "was soiled by the addictive
nature of accepting money" once the
Israelis began to pay him.
Then "the money corrupted him,"
Mr. Hibey acknowledged, referring to
more than $45,000 in cash that Mr. Pol-
lard received with other benefits and
promises of more money.
Dressed somberly in a black three-
piece suit and white shirt, Mr. Pollard
told Judge Robinson: "I broke faith. I
took the law into my own hands," and
"I took sectarianism to an illogical ex-
treme."
"While my motives may have been
well-meaning, they cannot by any
stretch of th imagination excuse my
violation of the law," he said.
He said his aim was not to hurt the
United States, but to help an ally. That,
however, "is cold comfort to me," he
said, adding: "I broke the law. I should
not have done it."
Mercy Asked for Wife
He added in a soft, even voice that in
addition to betraying the trust of "the
nation," he had violated "another,
more ancient, a little more sacred trust
- the trust a wife implicitly places in
her husband."
"Unfortunately, I sacrificed her,
inadvertently, on the altar, it is safe to
say, of political ideology," he said, urg-
ing the court "humbly and sincerely"
to show her "mercy."
"She was as much a victim of my
cultural arrogance as anyone else,"
Mr. Pollard said. "I took advantage of
her, and now she must pay the pen-
alty."
Mrs. Pollard, who, with her husband
pleaded guilty last June, faced a poten-
tial sentence of 10 years in prison and a
fine of up to $500,000. But she had asked
for probation, especially in light of
what her lawyer described as a serious
and painful digestive tract illness that
has caused her to lose 60 pounds.
She Sought China Pact
In addition to the help she provided
her husband, including trying to hide
some of the documents once his activi-
ties were detected, according to Fed-
eral prosecutors, Mrs. Pollard used
classified information on the People's
Republic of China, obtained by her hus-
band, in an effort to win a public rela-
tions contract with the embassy here.
I
,-ofitlriued
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807320003-2
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807320003-2
2.
Her arms wrapped tightly across her
body, Mrs. Pollard also addressed
Judge Robinson, delivering a teary
pledge of love for her husband and a
dramatic plea for leniency on his be-
half. She told the judge that her hus-
band was "the most wonderful man I
have ever laid eyes on in my life."
"I pray to God every single day I'll
be reunited with my husband," Mrs.
Pollard said, her voice breaking.
"That's all I live for. He is everything
in the world to me. I need him so much
right now. He is my best friend. My
greatest love."
Justice Department officials have
said that they are trying to revoke im-
munity previously granted to three
other Israeli conspirators involved in
the Pollard spy ring. If successful, they
said, they will seek to indicxt them, as
well.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807320003-2