BROADER ISRALEI SPY RING IN U.S. NOW INDICATED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807490030-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 30
• Publication Date: May 30, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/03/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807490030-4
V
rRnac
ON PAGE
Broader Israeli
Spy Ring in U.S.
Now Indicated
Sources Believe Pollards
Were a Part of Network
By MICHAEL WINES
5 and RONALD J. OSTROW,
Times Staff f Writers
WASHINGTON-Former Navy
analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard,
whose November arrest on charges
of spying for Israel was dismissed
by that nation as an isolated em -
barrassment, was in fact one link in
an organized and well-financed
Israeli espionage ring operating
within the United States, knowl-
edgeable government sources have
told The Times.
The sources, speaking on the
condition that they not be identi-
fied, said the disclosure casts seri-
ous doubt on Israeli claims that
their government's officials knew
nothing of Pollard's activities and
that the government has cooperat-
ed fully in the U.S. probe of the
affair.
Another Arrest Possible
Instead, a continuing federal in-
vestigation of Israeli spying activi-
ties likely will produce at least one
additional arrest and has brought
both American and Israeli citizens
under suspicion, according to
sources. The suspects include an
unnamed Israeli air force offi-
si -a regular U.S. vial or. osten-
sibly here for educational purpos-
es-who is believed to have been
-intelligence operations according
to officials.
"The Israelis lied to us. This was
no small-time rogue operation; it
was much more systematic than
that," one official said. "This was a
very expensive operation that they
ran. There's no embassy slush fund
big enough to cover that sort of
thing."
Pollard was a civilian intelli-
gence analyst with t e Nava n-
vestigative Service when he was
arrested last Nov. as he t ri d
LOS ANGELES
30 May 1986
sh his car through
FB agents ater told a federal
magistrate that Pollard had sold
Israel stacks of classified reports on
the military strength of the United
States and other nations, including
Israel's rivals in the Mideast.
His wife, Anne Henderson-Pol-
lard, was accused four days later of
unauthorized possession of national
defense information, a lesser
charge. Federal officials contend
that Henderson -Pollard tried to
destroy classified documents,
after her husband's arrest and was
rearing to pass secret rote i-
Aence estimates to
chInese officials
when she was taken into custody.
Wife Was Released
Pollard has been held in federal
custody since his arrest. His wife
was first denied bail but later was
released from custody for health
reasons.
Israeli officials had expressed
"shock and consternation" in the
days after the arrests, saying that
the espionage accusations were a
complete surprise. Prime Minister
Shimon Peres later pledged to
unravel Israel's role in the affair
"to the last detail, no matter where
the trail may lead."
But a number of informed U.S.
officials now believe that Peres
knew of the espionage network,
sources said, despite formal assur-
ances given U.S. investigators last
December that any spying was
conducted "without authority" of
the Jerusalem government.
In Washington, Israeli Ambassa-
dor Meir Rosenne declined com-
ment on the espionage develop-
ments. A spokesman cited a State
Department press release issued in
December in which U.S. officials
said they had received "full coop-
eration" from Israel in their inves-
tigation of the Pollard case.
'Comment ... Inappropriate'
"The issue is now dealt with by
the law authorities of the United
States," the spokesman, Yossi Gal,
said. "Therefore, any further com-
ment would be inappropriate."
The State Department, however,
is "urgently" seeking an explana-
tion from Israeli officials, who are
reported to have agreed that the
new espionage evidence should be
pursued. But the department re-
mains unconvinced that Peres
knew the scope of espionage activi-
ty here, according to one Adminis-
tration official.
"There continues to be some
question of how far up the knowl-
edge of the American-targeted es-
pionage extended," that official
said. "It didn't necessarily go as far
as the prime minister. There is
more there that is being tracked
down." '
The widening investigation has
opened a "lively" dispute between
officials at the State Department,
who want to confine disclosures of
Israeli spying to what is already
publicly known, and the Justice
Department, which wants to ex-
pose the full scope of espionage
here and to make new arrests when
the evidence warrants.
The outcome may hinge on
plea-bargain negotiations between
Pollard's lawyer and the Justice
Department, now said by several
sources to be at a critical stage.
Plea-bargain agreements are usu-
ally accompanied by lengthy court
filings that present detailed evi-
dence of defendants' alleged
crimes.
The State Department wants
those details suppressed, both to
avoid further damage to U.S. - Israel
relations and to aid the Peres
government, which could be
rocked by allegations of a cover-up
of American spying. But critics say
that such a move would place the
United States in the awkward posi-
tion of tacitly endorsing Israeli
espionage within U.S. borders.
"There's no way you can buy
that," one government official said.
You can't put (the Administration)
in the position of saying espionage
is bad when the Russians do it, but
nv
erican intelligence experts
ajsumec since the-p0 a a
arrests that their case masked
ro
a er Israeli espion g o rang i
within the Unit c stoe
source said so the newest evidence
o that operation comes as "no
su rse. ut sources sal tat a
full accounting would sorely em-
barrass the Israelis, who have
unswervingly maintained that the
incident was, at worst, a one-time
lapse.
Obscure Unit Highlighted
Reports in The Times and pls -
where have su ested at P
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/03/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807490030-4
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/03/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807490030-4
lard's work was directed by an
obscure scientific ce known as
LEKEM Mg run by a career intel-
ligence o cer, ae That
sources as a "rene de" intelli-
. e nce unit, alleiredlz funneled
assy to pay Pollard for his work.
ne day after Poffair-clls- arrest,
two Israeli science attaches were
quietly recalled from the United
States to Jerusalem and Eitan was
later shifted to another job.
His office, attached to the Israeli
Defense Ministry, apparently was
started by former Defense Minister
Moshe Arens, a current minister-
without-portfolio who met with
Secretary of State George P. Shultz
the day after Pollard was seized.
According to a diplomatic source,
Shultz told Arens at the end of that
meeting that he did not want the
incident "to affect relations be-
tween our two countries." And,
except for a brief period of coolness,
it did not.
But three weeks later, after a
U.S. inquiry panel returned from
Israel, a State Department spokes-
man said the panel was told that
Pollard had acted "without author-
ity" of Israel. That statement, is-
sued Dec. 20, praised the Peres
government and announced the
resumption of "normal cooperation
in all fields" with Israel.
However, the evidence that has
surfaced since then, after Justice
Department questioning of Pollard
and possibly others, indicates that
Israeli cooperation was not com-
plete.
The debate over whether that
new evidence should be made pub-
lic has simmered while the Justice
Department conducted plea negoti-
ations with Pollard. But it has come
to a head this month as Justice
officials neared a decision to either
strike a bargain with Pollard or to
seek a formal indictment by a
federal grand jury in the District of
Columbia, the first step toward a
trial.
Federal defendants generally are
indicted quickly after arrest, but
Pollard has yet to be indicted and
has remained in federal custody,
without bail, since last fall. The
lengthy stay in custody is unusual,
but espionage suspects are seldom
released before trial because of the
severity of their crimes and the
likelihood that the suspects would
flee.
In Pollard's case, an official said,
it is likely that federal prosecutors
have asked a judge to keep Pollard
in custody beyond the normal
deadline for indictments or that
Pollard's lawyer has asked for an
extension of the deadline while plea
bargaining continues.
It is not known whether his
wife's prosecution also is the sub-
ject of plea bargaining. Several
officials said the decision in Pol-
lard's case could come as early as
next week. If so, the White House
may be forced soon to decide
2
whether to make a public disclo-
sure of the new espionage allega-
tions,
Such agonizing is common in
cases involving hostile nations'
spies, such as the ongoing trial of
accused Soviet agent Ronald Pel-
ton, because U.S. officials must
decide whether the benefits of a
public prosecution outweigh the
Possible security damage from air-
ing secrets in public.
In this case, one Administration
source said, the deliberations are
doubly sensitive because the deci-
sion also could affect the stability of
a critical ally's government. "It
appears to be more foreign rela-
tions than national defense that is
the main worry," that source said.
Times staff writer, Doyle
McManus mW Raba C
~r this C. Toth
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/03/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807490030-4