AIPACgate: New Info from the New Indictment

I have been diligently following this case since I first became interested in it and posted my initial Franklin Timeline here at DKos in May (a more recent version updated version can be seen here).

I have read two good analyses of the new indictment, which provides for additional charges against Larry Franklin, as well as charges against AIPAC's Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, but my analysis below is from parsing through the indictment (courtesy of Antiwar.com), and I have tried to focus on points not raised in the other analyses.  See below the fold...

The other analyses:

• Justin Raimondo's provides some good background on the entire case, and a good summary of the implications (despite what you may think of his politics, his analysis is good).  

• Wayne Madsen's (again, tin foil hat or not, he makes some great points and has reached the same conclusion that I did several months ago, that the Plame and Franklin investigations have intersected/have become related).

Note: links for many of the facts and allegations in the following analysis can be found in my Franklin Timeline)

One of the first things that jumped out at me was something that I did not know about Rosen: he was a Social Scientist at the RAND Corporation from 1978-1982.  In his work for RAND, he was granted a Secret security clearance on July 18, 1979, and CIA granted him a Secret Industrial security clearance on July 17, 1980.  The Defense Industrial Security Clearance Organization issued the clearances, and Rosen continued to work on defense issues with CIA until July 6, 1982.  The indictment, unfortunately, does not provide any details on what type of work he did.

However, this is important because the nature of his work, and the time he spent working with the government, may have put him in contact with at least one Neocon: Richard Perle was appointed Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy in 1981 (shortly before this, he had done consulting for an Israeli arms manufacturer).  The nature of both of their assignments may indicate that Rosen and Perle may have had some contact as far back as 1982.

Also, the indictment refers to conversations Rosen had with a Foreign Official 1 (FO-1).  It has been reported that FO-1 is Naor Gilon, who ran the political desk at the Israeli Embassy in Washington and was recently recalled back to Israel. The Israelis are currently discussing with the FBI their request to interview him.  Rosen's discussions with FO-1 go back at least as far as April 13, 1999.

Also note the allegation page 8 that Rosen and Weissman met with United States government official 1 (USGO-1) on December 12, 2000, and later revealed classified information to the media that USGO-1 would have had access to.  This is clearly an avenue that the FBI must be currently investigating.

Because of the date (2000), I am sure there will be speculation that USGO-1 is a Clinton administration official.  However, I believe USGO-1 is Harold Rhode.  Rhode, a Neocon who joined the Penatgon's Office of Net Assessment in 2001, worked at the Department of Defense at the time. Rhode's name has come up in the Franklin investigation, and it has been alleged that Rhode had his security clearance stripped in 1998 based on allegations he had provided classified information to Israel (Rhode has denied this).

Next, the indictment lists several conversations that Rosen had with USGO-2 beginning in January 2002 in which classified information was revealed and was passed on to AIPAC employees, and a foreign national (not named).  The only clue as to who USGO-2 is comes from the description of three meetings/discussions from mid-March, 2002:  USGO-2 disclosed information regarding Al-Qaeda.

The Office of Special Plans was created by Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith around the same time as these March, 2002 meetings.  The OSP contained people that could possibly have been USGO-2: William Luti, David Wurmser and F. Michael Maloof.  Or, USGO-2 could have been Feith himself, or even Perle, who was still with DoD at time as Chairman of the Defense Policy Board.  Another intriguing connection is to John Bolton:  Wurmser was moved to Bolton's office at the Department of State around the same time that OSP was created.

Also note that both Feith and Maloof had worked for Perle at the DoD back in 1982.  It has been alleged that, in 1983, Feith was fired because he had been the object of an inquiry into whether he had provided classified material to an official of the Israeli Embassy in Washington.

But, regardless of the identity of the USGOs, this is clearly another avenue/suspect that the FBI is continuing to investigate.

Another new revelation in the indictment is that on February 12, 2003, in Alexandria, VA, there was a meeting between Franklin, Rosen and Weissman.  There was also a fourth person present, identified in the indictment as DoD employee B.  It seems that DoD employee B was not someone important, but perhaps this is someone that is cooperating with the FBI, and providing them with further information?  This seems possible, as this person has not been identified in the indictment, or indicted himself for assisting the conspiracy.

Also, there are allegations that Rosen had conversations concerning classified information he got from Franklin with FO-2 and FO-3.  All that is known is that FO-2 was assigned to a foreign embassy in D.C.  FO-3 is described as "a diplomatic staff member."

Also involved in the case is a person described on page 24 of the indictment as "a person previously associated with an intelligence agency of Foreign Nation A who was then running a think tank" there.  This is clearly Uzi Arad,, former Mossad senior official and head of the Institute for Policy and Strategy at Israel's Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya.  He was questioned by the FBI in connection with the Franklin probe in March, 2005 and has been vocal about Iran's nuclear threat to Israel and would have been interested in the classified information provided by Iran specialist Franklin.

Next, we have another intriguing allegation on page 12 of the indictment.  It alleges that Rosen "disclosed to a senior fellow at a Washington, D.C. think tank" classified information provided by Franklin.  I believe this "senior fellow" may be Richard Perle.  It was in March 2003 that he resigned as Chairman of the Defense Policy Board.  He is a member of numerous think tanks, including the American Enterprise Institute.

CONLUSIONS

First of all, this is pretty explosive stuff, to put it mildly.  In terms of the sheer number of people involved, the type of classified information disclosed, and the clear pattern of violating the law, this is much bigger than Plamegate (yet it is still being buried in the papers).  It is also clear that the FBI has a lot more on Franklin, Rosen and Weissman than was previously reported.  

It is also quite apparent that there are several other avenues of the investigation.  Further indictments are likely coming: for the "senior fellow" (Perle?), USGO-1 (Rhode?), and USGO-2 (Luti, Feith, Wurmser, etc.?).

Also note that Franklin's trial date is set for September, right near when the Plame investigation grand jury is set to expire, in October.  With the new indictments, there may be a delay in Franklin's trial date, but whenever it does happen, more information will be coming out.  

I would also not be surprised to see more indictments in the Franklin case by September.  When Franklin was initially arrested and indicted, I thought it might have been a move by the FBI to pressure Franklin into cooperating again and providing further information.  Such a move, if it was intended, may have worked, and yesterday's indictment of Rosen and Weissman may have been the result.  It is now possible that Rosen and Weissman may try to cut a deal in exchange for information, which could lead to the indictment of more Neocons.

In any event, it seems clear that this Autumn is set to be the Season of Scandals.