U.S. NOT YET ALLOWED TO QUESTION ISRAELIS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807490024-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: July 9, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/03/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000807490024-1
pNPAGE~.~ 90~u1N01986 TIMES
A1Towec~to uestion Israelis
~.S. Not Yet Q
~/ By MICHAEL WINEg's>nd RONALD J. OSTROVI, ?'ices Stan Writers
WASHINGTON-The Justice
D~artment, continaing to- pursue
elidence of Israeli espioosse in the
Ill4ited States, is awaiting Israel's
rabponse to requests to interview
I raelie linked to the case of con-
f~eed spy Jonathan Jay Pollard, a
garernment official said Tuesday.
"!"he requests were made in late
,Efate during Washington talks in-
Jtf)t+ing Jwtice officials, Israeli le-
BB~~ representatives and an attorney
f8f' Israeli Air Force Gen. Aviem
(Avi) Sella, Pollard'e reputed spy-
rrS'~ter.
'Sella is one of several Israelis
~_
can-,
iA,f~ve~nt fi'o:n. U.S. investig~.. ,
int~n-iew people linked to
'sespionagt activitle~
v t
~
ono mitt sat Tues
~y.
t mvest~gators continue
b! ' v t '
wel as Israelis. have ioined in
still-unre orted Intel ' ence 'v-
iti s to t e Hite fates. Their
suspicions are ' in part on
information volunteered by Pollard
during plea-bargain negotiations
this spring and during later ques-
tioning. the official said.
In a related development, Man-
hattan investment adviser Steven
E. Stern said Tuesday that he
arranged the first meeting between
Sella and Pollard after meeting
Sella through "sheer coincidence."
Stern's lawyer, Jonathan L. Ros-
ner, said his client met Sella at an
Israel bonds fund-raising event
held by Stern in New York.
However, Stern was unaware
that his introduction was the key tar
an espionage ring, Stern and Ros-
ner said. adding that flu financial
consultant is not under federal.
ir~veatigation: A federal source
agreed Tuesday, saying that Stern
has cooperated in the Pollard in-
vestigation and is not suspected at
criminal involvement.
The New York Times has identi-
fied Stern as the "New York asso-
ciate," anonymously cited in Pol-
lard's plea-bargain agreement last
month, who introduced Pollard to
his future spymaster irk the spring
of 198.
Childhood F'riend~
In a brief interview, Stern said he
had known the 36-year-old Pollard
for "decades" but indicated that his
acquaintance with Sella was only
passing. Stern's lawyer said his
client and Pollard were childhood
friends whose parents knew each
other well and that the two men
have maintained a "sporadic"
friendship.
According to plea-bargain docu-
ments filed in U.S. District Court in
Washington, Pollard's New York
associate indicated that, in the
spring of 1984, "the associate had
recently met ahigh-level officer in
the Israeli air force. Mr. Pollard
asked to be put in contact with the
Israeli officer," and the associ-
ate-Stern-arranged the meeting
at Pollard's request.
Stern's lawyer said Tuesday that
it is hu recollection that his client
and Pollard did not meet face to
face or even talk by telephone
during the critical exchanges
named in the documents, but he did
not say how the two men commu-
' nicated.
Appeared iBetore Grand Juq
He added that Stern appeared at
least once before a federal grand
jury in Washington that investigat-
ed the Pollard affair but refused to
discuss his testimony. Stern re-
fused to cominentfurther.
- Meanwhile, in another develop-
ment Tuesday involving alleged
Israeli espionage, federal officials
coniitmed that the Justice Depart-
ment and U.S. Custonoa Service are
investigating charges that Israel
obtained and smuggled- to Israel
U.S. technology to build cluster
bombe, weapons that the United
States had refused to supply after
rtporta that the Israelis had mie-
used them in the 1982 invasion of
Lebanon.
Sources close to the Inquiry,
speaking only on the condition that
they not be identified, said the
federal agencies are investigating
private contractors in the United
States, reportedly in Iowa and
Pennsylvania. This investigation,
however, is not related to the
Pollard case, the officials said.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/03/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000807490024-1