8/13/2019 jonathan pollack

1/3

onathan Pollards ex-wife Anne and her father were settled in Israel bythe government there this week, the latest chapter in a renewedcampaign to free the confessed spy.

Israel has angled periodically for Pollards release since 1!, when itadmitted, after 1" years of denials, that the former naval intelligenceanalyst was not a rog#e agent b#t an officially sanctioned spy.

$ast %eptember Prime &inster 'inyamin (etanyah# relit the fires #nderthe case when, according to Israeli Army )adio, he asked the *bamaadministration to release Pollard in exchange for a temporary halt inIsrael+s constr#ction of ewish settlements.

A month later $awrence orb, an assistant secretary of defense at thetime of Pollards arrest in 1!, asked President *bama in a p#blicletter to comm#te Pollards sentence to time served -- / years. A

handf#l of members of 0ongress seconded the call, which has beenbitterly resisted by .%. intelligence agencies.

(ow another key official at the time of Pollards arrest, former 2'I and(avy lawyer &.3. 4%pike5 'owman, is weighing in -- against his release-- in a forthcoming article.

4%ince I was the only person who act#ally to#ched all aspects of thecase I tho#ght it was inc#mbent on me to lay o#t the facts,5 'owman,the top legal adviser to (avy intelligence at the time, and who laterworked as senior co#nsel at the 2'I and as dep#ty director of the(ational 0o#nterintelligence 3xec#tive, told %py6alk.

In a piece written for a forthcoming 7o#rnal of the Association of 2ormerIntelligence *fficers, fo#nded years ago to s#pport the 0IA, 'owmannotes that there have been 4few reb#ttals of this escalation of calls forPollards release8mainly beca#se so few were cogni9ant of the scopeof Pollards disclos#res, or the mis#ses of those disclos#res, and thedamage they did to o#r own operations and so#rces.:

6he tr#e extent of the spys damage remains locked in governmentva#lts, 'owman writes, 4beca#se when a plea agreement was reached,it was no longer necessary to litigate iss#es that co#ld have exposedthe scope of Pollards treachery -- and the expos#re of classifiedsystems.5

'#t the retired (avy captain singles o#t three of Pollards leaks, thefirst being 4the daily report from the (avys %ixth 2leet *cean%#rveillance Information 2acility ;2*%I2< in )ota, %pain, a top-secretdoc#ment filed every morning reporting all that had occ#rred in the&iddle 3ast d#ring the previo#s twenty-fo#r ho#rs, as recorded by the(%As most sophisticated monitoring devices.5

4Probably the most serio#s disclos#re ;of those of which we are aware

8/13/2019 jonathan pollack

2/3

was the 6*P %30)36 (%A )AI%I( man#al, which lists the physicalparameters of every known signal =or electronic comm#nication>, noteshow we collect signals aro#nd the world, and lists all the knowncomm#nications links then #sed by the %oviet nion,5 'owman writes.

4It is certainly the thing that stood o#t in the mind of the sentencing

7#dge? partic#larly when Pollard alleged at sentencing that there reallywas no harm done. 6he 7#dge interr#pted and bro#ght him #p short,pointing specifically to disclos#re of the )AI%I( man#al.5

'owman also writes that 4Pollard disclosed information to the Israelisthat co#ld prevent the .%. from monitoring Israeli activities in the&iddle 3ast -- clearly a foreign policy nightmare.5

Pollard admitted to prosec#tors that his handlers at the Israeli 3mbassyoften goaded him for better-@#ality information, 'owman says.

4=>is initial handler told him that they already receive +%30)36+ levelmaterial from the nited %tates. Bhat they needed was the 6*P

%30)36 data they were not yet receiving.5

ard copies of the doc#ments Pollard stole in 1! months co#ld 4fill aroom that is six feet by six feet by ten,5 )onald *live, the top (avyinvestigator in the Pollard case, told %py6alk.

:(o other spy in the history of the nited %tates stole so many secrets,so highly classified, in s#ch a short period of time,: he maintains.

'owman also takes aim at orbs contention that Pollard has been#nd#ly p#nished, arg#ing in his open letter to *bama that :theaverage sentence for Pollard+s offence5 -- stealing secrets for 4friendly5co#ntries -- 4is two to fo#r years, and #nder c#rrent g#idelines themaxim#m sentence is 1C years.5

'#t 'owman, as well as a co#nterintelligence officer involved inPollards case who insisted on anonymity, says orbs math is skewed.

46he s#pporters who claim that the sentence of Pollard wasdisproportionate to the crime cite three to fo#r cases where Americanssold or gave doc#ments to non-adversary co#ntries like %a#di Arabia,3c#ador and 3l %alvador,5 the 0IA officer said. 46hese were a handf#lof secrets, and those who committed the crime were sentencedproportionately. Bhat Pollard+s crew has done is to take these handf#lsof cases and then extrapolated the sentences saying that Pollard has

served far longer than the Daverage spy who spied for +friendlyservices.+ :

In fact, the average sentence for those ca#ght spying for the )#ssians,not co#nting the "E-year term given to erry A. Bhitworth, part of theinfamo#s ohn Balker family spy ring, was over "E years. 6hree spiesother than Pollard, incl#ding )#ssian mole Aldrich Ames, were given lifesentences.

8/13/2019 jonathan pollack

3/3

*f co#rse, Pollard didnt 7#st spy for Israel, altho#gh that was far andaway his main benefactor.

4Intelligence officials have #nofficially detailed instances of additionaldisclos#res to other nations,5 'owman writes. 46hese officials said thatPollard had given classified doc#ments to Pakistan, %o#th Africa and

two other co#ntries they declined to identify.5

%ome the doc#ments Pollard gave Israel ended #p in &oscow,according to vario#s reports, b#t as one investigator in the case told%py6alk, 4there are only two co#ntries that know the facts 8)#ssia andIsrael. Bhich leads me to believe we will never know the tr#th.5

Pollards c#rrent wife, 3sther, wrote in the er#salem Post &onday thatthe statement of s#pport by orb, and another from his former Israelihandler )afi 3itan claiming that Bashington had reneged on a verbalpledge to release Pollard after 1C years, 4provide Israel with the goldenkey to open onathan+s 7ail cell.:

It+s long past time, she said, for (etanyah# to go p#blic with a demandto Bashington that Pollard be released.

%o far, however, the prime minister has ref#sed to pick #p themegaphone. And 7#dging by 'owmans forthcoming piece, his privatepleas will, likewise, fall short.