F.B.I said to reach official suspected of passing secrets ....

[annxburns]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/29/politics/29spy.html?hp


Sorry if a dupe, looked new to me ....

[notadmblnd]

1. This is interesting also

Larry Franklin actively participated in the following events:



June 2003 Complete Iraq timeline

The Pentagon Office of Special Plans sends two Defense officials, Harold Rhode and Larry Franklin, to Paris where they secretly meet with Manucher Ghorbanifar, an Iranian arms trader who had been a central figure in the Iran-Contra affair. Michael Ledeen of the American Enterprise Institute is said to have arranged the meeting, which is not authorized by the White House. It appears that the purpose of the meeting is to undermine a pending deal that the White House is negotiating with the Iranian government. Iran is considering turning over five al-Qaeda operatives in exchange for Washington dropping its support for Mujahadeen Khalq, an Iraq-based rebel Iranian group listed as a terrorist organization by the State Department. The Office of Special Plans is reportedly interested in using this group to help destabilize Iran?s government. When Secretary of State Colin Powell gets wind of its activities, he complains directly to the office of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, saying that Feith's missions are against US policy.
People and organizations involved: Michael Ledeen, Manucher Ghorbanifar, Larry Franklin, Harold Rhode


http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/entity.jsp?entity=larry_franklin

[Eloriel]

2. Whoa! That's a bit more explicit than

Josh Marshall's Washington Monthly article, isn't it now?

These people are absolutely unbelievable.

[seemslikeadream]

3. Information-passing inquiry could expand

By Toni Locy and Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — An investigation into whether a midlevel Pentagon analyst passed information about U.S. policy on Iran to pro-Israel lobbyists could expand into a broader inquiry into whether more U.S. secrets were shared with Israel, two federal law enforcement officials said Sunday.
Pentagon analyst Lawrence Franklin is suspected of having given either an internal administration document or an oral summary of its contents to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), said the officials, who have knowledge of the case but asked not to be named because the investigation is ongoing. One official said charges as serious as espionage could be filed soon. The other official said the FBI hopes Franklin will cooperate. If he does, he may face a lesser charge such as mishandling classified documents.


The investigation is taking place in an atmosphere of political recriminations in Washington focused on so-called neoconservatives — strong supporters of Israel who lobbied for the U.S. invasion of Iraq and downplayed the difficulties U.S. forces would face there.

The Franklin investigation comes as a separate inquiry looks into who leaked information about U.S. methods of spying on Iran to Ahmad Chalabi, an Iraqi politician who was once favored by the neoconservatives as a likely leader of the new Iraq. One of the law enforcement officials said "there may be some crossover" between the two investigations, but only because the information in both deals with Iran.

Franklin is an Air Force reservist who served in Israel and also worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon's in-house intelligence organization. An Iran analyst, Franklin works for Douglas Feith, undersecretary of Defense for policy.

Before becoming the Pentagon's No. 3 official, Feith was a private attorney in Washington who represented Israeli companies. In 1996, Feith co-authored a study for an Israel-based institute that advocated overthrowing Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as a means of weakening another Israeli enemy, Syria.


Contributing: Donna Leinwand, Mark Memmott
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-08-29-information-passing_x.htm