The Jonathan Pollard Spy Case

[Jan Klimkowski]

The document describes how Pollard's handler, Joseph Yagur, told him to ignore a request, from Yagur's boss, for U.S. "dirt" on senior Israeli officials and told
Pollard that gathering such information would terminate the operation (page 38).

The actual section can be seen on page 38 here.

It reads:

Yaqur and Eitan provided initial, detailed taskings on
the intelligence Pollard was to obtain. Yagur
emphasized that Pollard should .seek military and
scientific intelligence on Arab States, Pakistan, and
the Soviet Union in its role a:'s military patron of the
Arabs. Eitan requested the only specific document
mentioned at the Paris meetings, the "RASIN Manual,"
which he could only describe as a document concerning
signals intelligence. Eitan also requested information
on PLO Force 17, material reporting "dirt" on Israeli
political figures, any information that would identify
Israeli officials who were providing information to the
United States, and any information on US intelligence
operations targeted against Israel.

If this account is correct, Pollard's handlers at different levels disagreed about whether Pollard should obtain "material reporting 'dirt' on Israeli political figures".

In a world where Information is Power, and lives are entirely disposable, this is curious to say the least.

On page 39 we read, in oh so familiar phraseology:

In addition to conveying operational instructions
and taskings, Eitan used the Paris meetings to test and
strengthen Pollard's motivation. Eitan presented a formal,
highly alarmist briefing to Pollard on the Middle East situation,
which described how Israel could be quickly overrun by a Syrian
attack. He emphasized that Israel £aced a "technological Pearl
Harbor" and badly needed access to the material Pollard could
provide. In his debriefings, Pollard commented that the
presentation was calculated to strengthen his commitment to the
espionage operation, and it was accompanied by a "ceremony"
wherein he was "sworn in" as an Israeli citizen.

Later on page 39:

26. According to Pollard, security and cover matters
were addressed only perfunctorily. Pollard was assured that US
authorities would be unlikely to take any action against him if
he were detected, and any action that was initiated could be
contained by Israel. The "Uncle Joe Fisher" cover story,
originally created to explain the financing of the Paris trip to
Henderson, was extended to cover the purchase of the diamondsapphire
ring as a gift for her. Eitan commented that he could
"backstop" the "Joe Fisher" identity in New York; Pollard then
composed a letter from "Fisher" to Pollard referring to the gift
and indicating that "Fisher" was sorry to have missed seeing
Pollard and Henderson in Paris.

Page 43:

Pollard claimed to investigators that he again
expressed concern about what would happen to his wife and himself
if his espionage was detected. Eitan again assured him that no
drastic action would be taken by the United States. He also
repeated his pledge that Israel would take care of Pollard; and
informed Pollard that in addition to his salary, Israel was
setting up a Swiss bank account for him, into which Israel would
deposit $30,000 per year.23 Pollard was to continue his
espionage for Israel for 10 years, after which Pollard and his
immediate family would emigrate to Israel. He could then use the
projected $300,000 to establish himself in his new homeland. The
Swiss account would be in the name of "Danny Cohen," which would
be Pollard's Israeli identity. Eitan commented further that
Israeli passports would be prepared for the.Pollards.

A glimpse into the Israeli Mockingbird on page 45, and an Israeli double-cross?

37. On 18 November 1985, FBI and NIS agents
confronted and questioned Pollard for the first time as he left
the ATAC building in Suitland, Maryland. They found classified
material in Pollard's possession for which he had no
authorization to remove from the building. Pollard at first
claimed to be delivering the material to another US intelligence
organization. Once this story broke down, he alleged that the
information was destined for a journalist contact, Kurt Lohbeck,
who was interested in helping the Afghan Mujahidin. (footnote 25) Early in
the three-day period of questioning by NIS and FBI investigators,
Pollard alerted Yagur by telephone and volunteered false
information to investigators thereby giving Yagur, Erh,. and Sella
time to flee the country. Pollard was placed under 24-hour
FBI/NIS surveillance on 19 November with the two-fold objectives
of identifying his real contacts and preventing his escape from
the United States. Pollard and his wife were arrested by the FBI
on the morning of 21 November after a security officer at the
Israeli Embassy refused to allow them entry into the building.
Probably, Yaqur, Sella, and Erb already had left the United
States.

(Footnote) 25 Pollard and Lohbeck had met on a number of occasions to
discuss Middle Eastern, Soviet-Afghan, and arms-transfer issues.
Lohbeck was a pro-Mujahidin.lobbyist, who maintained contacts
with Afghan guerrilla leaders as well as US and Pakistani
government officials. As far as can be determined from
investigation, Lohbeck had no role in Pollard's espionage.

Page 48 - Mockingbird efforts backfire? Note the nature of the intelligence Pollard chose to leak.

42. While his cooperation in debriefings was most
helpful to government investigators, Pollard's willingness to
grant an interview to journalist Wolf Blitzer for The Jerusalem
Post without obtaining advance approval of the resulting text
from the Justice Department violated the terms of his plea
bargain. In the Blitzer interview, which was held on 20 November
1986 at Petersburg Federal Penitentiary, Pollard provided
extensive information on his motives and objectives in conducting
espionage for Israel. He also provided Blitzer a general
account, with some important examples28, of intelligence he
passed to the Israelis and emphasized that the Israeli Government
must have been aware of and have approved of his activities. The
interview, first published in excerpted segments in The Jerusalem
Post over several months, was replayed in The New York Times and
The Washington Post. Anne Henderson-Pollard followed up with her
own commentary on the case in an unauthorized interview on "60
Minutes" on 1 March 1987, just three days before the Pollards
were sentenced. ($'~)
43. This publicity, which the Pollards apparently
hoped would mobilize sympathy and support from the Israeli
Government as well as from within the American Jewish community,
backfired on both them and on the Israelis. Following a series
of delays in sentencinq from 10 September 1986 until 4 March
1987, Judge Aubrey Robinson pronounced sentences of. life
imprisonment for Jonathan Pollard and two concurrent five-year
terms for Anne Henderson-Pollard. Although his perception of the
severity of the espionage offense probably was the chief factor
in Judge Robinson's sentencing decision, he likely also took into
account the Pollarde' plea-bargain violations. ~~)

(Footnote) 28 The examples included intelligence on PLO headquarters in
Tunis, Iraqi and Syrian chemical warfare production facilities,
Soviet arms shipments to Syria and other Arab states, Pakistan's
nuclear proqram, and the US Intelligence Community's assessment
of a new Soviet fighter.

Sourcewatch tells us that:

Wolf Blitzer served as lobbyist for the powerful American Israeli Public Affairs Committee AIPAC.