WHEN DO SPIES GO TOO FAR?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605790012-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 3, 2012
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: June 16, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

couple of years, however, these two authen-
tic heroes appear to have been engaged in
an activity that is bringing shame and dis-
honor on their country: hiring a couple of
Americans to steal secrets from the nation
Israel must depend upon for its survival."
Was it really possible that no high-ranking
Israeli officials were aware of the spy op-
eration? And if they did know, why did they
do nothing to stop it?
Classified documents: Those questions may
never be fully answered. But there was no
doubt that Pollard-whose plea bargain
spares him from a maximum sentence of
life in prison-was a productive spy. Using
his top-secret clearance as a civilian coun-
terterrorism analyst for the Navy, Pollard
obtained hundreds of highly classified U.S.
military documents and slipped them to his
Israeli handlers in Washington. The docu
.ments included satellite photos, secret
military and intelligence studies of a num-
i_atin to mine warfare anri to Warsaw Pact
Pollard-who is ewish-chose to spy for
Israel, according to his attorney, Richard
Hibey, because he is "a passionate anticom-
munist and antiterrorist [who] also be-
lieves in the Israeli state." His Israeli spon-
sors paid him a retainer of from $1,500 to
$2,500 a month, promised to deposit
$30,000 a year for him in a Swiss bank
account over a 10-year period and guaran-
teed that he could live in Israel under the
new name of Danny Cohen when the con-
tract was finished. Sella-Pollard's origi-
nal handler-even gave him a diamond
and sapphire ring worth more than $6,000
as a present for hi
if
s w
e
.
lesser felony charges. Angered by such But Pollard's colleagues in naval intelli-
barbs, Israeli officials privately accused gence became suspicious about his interest
the Justice Department of waging a "ma- in classified documents not related to his
levolent" campaign to discredit Israel. own immediate specialty. When federal in-
Promotion list: The Peres government did vestigators stopped him for questioning
disband the small Defense Ministry intelli- last Nov. 18, he knew it was time to come in
gence unit that allegedly ran Pollard. But from the cold. Three days later he and his
it subsequently promoted two of the four wife went to the Israeli Embassy to seek
Israelis cited by a grand jury as unindicted asylum. There they were intercepted by
coconspirators-Raphael Eitan. a veteran FBI agents and placed under arrest.
Israeliintallig'PP agent who helped kid- The Shin Bet scandal also raised serious
nap Adolf Eichmann in Argentina in 1960 moral questions in Israel. The controversy
and who oversaw the Pollard operation, began after the Defense Ministry an-
and Col. Aviem Sella, an Israeli Air Force nounced that two Palestinian terrorists had
officer who is said to have led the raid died of wounds during a commando assault
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/07/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605790012-5
AIT1CLE APP
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When
Spies Go
Too Far?
NEWSWEEK
16 June 1986
against the Baghdad nuclear reactor in
1981 and who was a graduate student at
New York University when Pollard began
spying. Eitan now heads Israel Chemicals
Ltd., the country's largest state-run indus-
trial enterprise. Sella, now a brigadier gen-
eral, commands a large American-built air-
field in the Negev.
No less a friend than New York Times
columnist William Safire tore into Israel
last week. "Rafi Eitan is a hero, almost a
legend, in Israel," wrote Safire. "Aviem
Two security scandals Sella may also be a hero ... For the last
embarrass Israel
Spying on your best friend? Killing cap.
tured terrorists, then sweeping the
deaths under the carpet? Whatever
ha_`hannened to Israel's va un
'n elli
gence e and sec ,riy agencies? In Jerusalem,
Prime Minister Shimon Peres now finds
himself grappling with two separate but
highly embarrassing security scandals.
The first is the case of Jonathan Jay Pol-
lard. a former U.S Navv intelligence ana-
lyst who pleaded guilty last week to selling
U.S. secrets to Israel- The second turns on
charges that the director of Shin Bet, Isra-
el's FBI, may have ordered interrogators to
kill two young Palestinian terrorists cap-
tured after a bus hijacking in 1984-then
covered up the deaths. The scandals raised
an unpleasant question: did these covert
Operations run wild under Israeli officials
who regarded the rule of law as less impor-
tant. than security?
Peres has insisted that the Pollard affair
was a "rogue operation" that violated Isra-
el's "standing rules" against spying on
America. But the case has already jarred
relations between Washington and Jerusa-
lem. Although aides said Secretary of State
George Shultz stillis of a mind to give Israel
the benefit of the doubt in the matter, some
White House and Justice Department offi-
cials appeared less inclined to do so. They
concurred with FBI Director William Web-
ster, who said that Israel had given only
"selective cooperation" in the investiga-
tion of Pollard, 31, and his wife, Anne Hen-
derson Pollard, who pleaded guilty to two
in April 1984 on the bus they had hijacked
near the Gaza Strip. That version was de-
bunked by an Israeli photographer whose
censored pictures showed one of the hi-
jackers being led away-dazed but with no
visible injuries. Last February three Shin
Bet officials called on Israeli Attorney
General Yitzhak Zamir and told him that
Avraham Shalom, Shin Bet's director, had
conducted a massive cover-up of the kill-
ings. But Peres and his cabinet ministers
strenuously opposed any probe of the affair
"for reasons of state security." When Zamir
tried to proceed with an investigation any-
way, Peres fired him. There was even talk
that Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir-
who was prime minister at the time-may
have sanctioned the killings and subse-
quently authorized Shalom to organize a
cover-up. Asked recently whether he knew
about Shin Bet's role in the hi-
jacking incident, Shamir re-
plied: "Iknewwhataprimemin-
ister had to know."
Washington and Jerusalem
hoped to contain the damage of
the Pollard affair. There w rF
Ears it could damage the spe-
cial relationship between U.S.
the ante i ence business
that there aren't any frien s,
Swirl one senior opera ave.
"There are degrees of enemies.
Rut there aren't any fri ndc "
Even now the Pentagon has no-
tified the Israelis that it is "re-
considering" a visit that Moshe
Levy, Israel's chief of staff,
was to make late this month.
Whether suspicions ease or
grow worse may depend on the
information that Pollard has
agreed to give the government.
ANGUS DEMING With
MILAN J. KLRic In .Jerusalem and
ICHA RD _ ND-Z-A-tn Washington
ty S~ .
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/07/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605790012-5