Israel Denies Involvement With Spy

A senior Israeli official said Thursday that Israel did not activate a U.S. Defense Department employee who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges for passing classified information to Israeli officials.

The U.S. defense analyst, Lawrence A. Franklin, has admitted to discussing with an Israeli embassy official and two members of an Israeli lobbying group top secret information, including details about potential attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq.

Franklin said the information he received from the official was far more valuable than what he gave.

"I knew in my heart that his government had this information," Franklin said. "He gave me far more information than I gave him."

The chairman of the Israeli parliament's Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, Yuval Steinitz, said Thursday that Israel had not known about Franklin's actions.

"I say very clearly that Israel is not spying in the United States or against the United States," Steinitz told Army Radio. "The conviction doesn't accuse Israel of activating Franklin or tempting him."

Steinitz said he had just returned from "very friendly" meetings with senior defense officials in the United States, including a deputy to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The case did not come up in the meetings, Steinitz said.

Israelis should not be expected in meetings to distinguish what U.S. defense officials have the authority to tell them, and what they do not, Steinitz said.

Franklin, of Kearneysville, W.Va., has pleaded guilty to two conspiracy counts and a charge of unlawful retention of national defense information.

The analyst has said in court that he was frustrated with U.S. government policy and that he had hoped the two members of the lobbying group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, could influence policy with their connections at the U.S. National Security Council.

The two AIPAC officials who allegedly received the information, Steven Rosen of Silver Spring, Md., and Keith Weissman of Bethesda, Md., also have been charged with conspiring to obtain and disclose classified U.S. defense information. AIPAC fired the two men in April and has denied any wrongdoing.

According to the indictment, Franklin met periodically with Rosen and Weissman between 2002 and 2004 and discussed classified information. Rosen and Weissman would subsequently share what they learned with reporters and Israeli officials. On at least one occasion, Franklin spoke directly to an Israeli official.

Franklin faces up to 25 years in prison but is expected to get far less under federal sentencing guidelines. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III set sentencing for Jan. 20.

Franklin, who was one of the Pentagon's policy experts on Iran and the Middle East, was indicted in June on five charges.

According to the indictment, Franklin met periodically with Rosen and Weissman between 2002 and 2004 and discussed classified information, including information about potential attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq.

Rosen and Weissman would subsequently share what they learned with reporters and Israeli officials. On at least one occasion, Franklin spoke directly to an Israeli official.

Rosen, a top lobbyist for Washington-based AIPAC for more than 20 years, and Weissman, the organization's top Iran expert, allegedly disclosed sensitive information as far back as 1999 on a variety of topics, including al Qaeda, terrorist activities in Central Asia, the bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia and U.S. policy in Iran, according to the indictment.

Franklin at one time worked for the Pentagon's No. 3 official, policy undersecretary Douglas Feith, on issues involving Iran and the Middle East.