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NY Daily News OpEd: Time to release a convicted spy

Jonathan Pollard's punishment was disproportionate to his offense. (Judicial anti-Semitism)http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/time-release-convicted-spy-article-1.1258110


By Lawrence Korb / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Published: Friday, February 8, 2013, 4:15 AM

Updated: Friday, February 8, 2013, 4:15 AM

With the ongoing fiscal negotiations and the disclosures surrounding the 
U.S. use of drones, many stories fall through the cracks. Among them was the 
December publication of a 1987 CIA damage assessment concerning Jonathan 
Pollard, a U.S. intelligence analyst who pleaded guilty in 1985 to 
forwarding classified material to the Israeli government and was sentenced 
to life in prison.

The release was important to people like myself who have been trying to 
understand why Pollard received such a severe sentence. I’ve been involved 
in national security affairs for over four decades, and the sentence always 
seemed disproportionate to the crime, which exceeded sentences given to 
other people who had spied for friendly countries and violated a plea 
agreement Pollard made with prosecutors.

For 25 years, members of Congress and former high level officials from the 
CIA and the Justice Department, including former CIA Director James Woolsey 
and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, have repeatedly called for 
Pollard’s sentence to be commuted.

Each time, intelligence professionals have argued against it by claiming 
that Pollard and Israel withheld the extent of his espionage, and that his 
spying caused more damage than that of other spies who have received shorter 
sentences (an average of seven years in prison).

Still others have pointed out that former Secretary of Defense Caspar 
Weinberger’s victim impact statement, sent after Pollard reached a plea 
agreement, was so damaging that the judge had no choice but to overrule the 
plea bargain. Finally, the Israeli government initially refused to 
acknowledge that Pollard was one of its agents and would not return the 
documents or debrief U.S. intelligence officials, making Pollard seem like a 
rogue agent.

But the CIA damage assessment demonstrates that all these claims are bogus. 
The documents show that CIA debriefers said Pollard cooperated with them 
fully and in good faith. Moreover, they acknowledge that Pollard did not 
divulge the most sensitive U.S. national security programs, including 
military activities, plans, capabilities, equipment or communications.

Finally, they make clear that Pollard actually resisted attempts by Israeli 
agents to expand the espionage to include dirt on Israelis who may have been 
passing information on to the United States. Pollard provided intelligence 
only on the Soviet Union’s activities in the Middle East, the Arab States 
and Pakistan.

The new report also debunks the theory that the judge ignored the plea 
agreement because Pollard had stolen more information than he admitted to. 
The assessment says that the real reason the judge overturned the agreement 
was that Pollard and his then-wife spoke to the media, violating a 
nondisclosure agreement.

But even that argument does not hold up. Yes, in 1998 Wolf Blitzer 
interviewed Pollard in federal prison — but how could he have done so 
without without permission from the U.S. government? The government 
eventually conceded that the jailhouse interview had been authorized. And 
indeed, Judge Stephen F. Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the first 
district ultimately condemned the presiding judge for reneging on the plea 
agreement.

Jonathan Pollard committed a serious crime. He deserved to be prosecuted and 
jailed for spying on his country. But he does not deserve to be in prison 27 
years later. He has expressed remorse, the Israeli government has apologized 
and cooperated with the U.S. and the CIA has acknowledged that he cooperated 
and did not withhold information. These newly declassified documents make it 
clear that it is time to let him go.

Korb is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and was 
assistant secretary of defense from 1981 to 1985.

JUSTICE FOR JONATHAN POLLARD
Website: http://www.JonathanPollard.org
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