bloomberg
A Maryland scientist, whose work with U.S. defense, space and energy agencies had given him access to ****fied information, is under arrest on charges of attempting to spy for Israel.
Some background information that could be helpful
Israeli Espionage in the US
Though Israel likes to describe itself as an American ally, as do Israel-first Americans, Israel has often engaged in espionage against the United States. The most famous case is that of Jonathan Pollard, a former Navy intelligence analyst who spied for Israel, passing off thousands of ****fied documents. He is now serving a life sentence in Federal prison. Afterwards, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir denied that there were any more Israeli spies in the US, but that is what Israel said when Pollard was arrested too. Subsequent events show that Pollard is not the last Americans to spy for Israel.
- Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, two employees of the AIPAC, were indicted in 2005 for conspiring to pass ****fied US information regarding Iran to Israel. These charges were dropped in 2009 after heavy lobbying by the Israel Lobby of the new Obama administration.
- Larry Franklin, a former Pentagon expert, pled guilty in April 2009 to passing the ****fied information to the two lobbyists, Rosen and Weissman.
- Congresswoman Jane Harman was recorded on an FBI wiretap conspiring with an Israeli intelligence officer to have the charges against Rosen and Weissman dropped, in exchange for Israeli help in making her chairman of the House Select committee on intelligence.
- In 2008, a former US Army civilian employee Ben-Ami Kadish pleaded guilty to passing ****fied information to Israel in the 1980s. It was stolen from the Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, where he worked.
- The LA Times reported in 2003, using off the record US government sources, that Israel conducts large scale intelligence gathering operations in the US.
- In1997 David Tenenbaum admitted to disclosing ****fied information from his place of work, the military's Army Tank, Automotive and Armaments Command to Israel. It was reported that ' "Tenenbaum admitted to divulging nonreleasable ****fied information to every Israeli liaison officer" assigned to the tank command over the last 10 years.'
- In the 1990s, the FBI conducted a large investigation into Israeli intelligence gathering in the US, focusing on a senior Israeli diplomat codenamed "Mega."
- The Washington Post reported that Richard Smyth, the owner of the defense contractor MILCO, ["Computer expert used Firm to Feed Israel Technology, October 31, 1986] illegally supplied with Israel weapons technology, including technology for nuclear weapons.
- A New York Times article ["Close U.S.-Israel Relationship Makes Keeping Secrets Hard," December 22, 1985] quoted former Justice Department official John Davitt as saying, "The Israeli intelligence service, when I was in the Justice Department, [1950-1980] was the second most active in the United States, to the Soviets."
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