Israeli Spy at the Pentagon

[livius drusus]

CBS news broke this story tonight and I just happened to be watching it even though I haven't watched network news in years.

CBS News, who first reported the story, said federal agents were about to arrest the alleged spy, who it said may have been in a position to influence Bush administration policy on Iran and Iraq.

The network said the analyst had ties to Rumsfeld's deputy Paul Wolfowitz and Defense Undersecretary Douglas Feith, both regarded as leading architects of the war on Iraq which President Bush launched in March last year.

According to the network, one of the documents passed to Israel was a draft presidential directive on U.S. policy toward Iran -- lumped by Bush in an "axis of evil" with Iraq and North Korea.

I've always been mystified by Israeli spies. I mean, what is the point, really? How much more pro-Israel can the US possibly get? This case gives me an inkling, however. I've been hearing rumblings that Iran will be the next target of the "War on Terror" and Israel has been complaining about Iran's nuclear capability for months now.

[Darat]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

...snip...
I've always been mystified by Israeli spies. I mean, what is the point, really? How much more pro-Israel can the US possibly get? This case gives me an inkling, however. I've been hearing rumblings that Iran will be the next target of the "War on Terror" and Israel has been complaining about Iran's nuclear capability for months now.

From how it has been reported over here in the UK it seems the concerns are not just about the intelligence gathering activities but also if the alleged spy could have influenced USA policy towards Israel.

BBC Report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3607060.stm

And although the USA may be a very close and good ally of the Israeli state I am certain that the USA does not always act in what the Israelis would consider to be the best interest of the Israel state. Therefore I'll not be surprised or shocked if Israel are found to have undercover operatives trying to influence the USA policy towards Israel.

On a more general note I would expect any government to try and know as much about other states that could have a potential influence on their state as possible - allied or not.

[livius drusus]

Originally Posted by Darat

From how it has been reported over here in the UK it seems the concerns are not just about the intelligence gathering activities but also if the alleged spy could have influenced USA policy towards Israel.

That was suggested in the CBS News report as well, but other than noting Feith's role in the build up to war, it was a bit light on the details. So far it seems more of a if he has this access, he could well have used it for that purpose too sort of proposition.

And although the USA may be a very close and good ally of the Israeli state I am certain that the USA does not always act in what the Israelis would consider to be the best interest of the Israel state. Therefore I'll not be surprised or shocked if Israel are found to have undercover operatives trying to influence the USA policy towards Israel.

You're right, of course. It's my own perspective that makes me think Israel has nothing at all to gain from espionage. Obviously they might disagree. Given the Pollard case, they certainly have in the past.

On a more general note I would expect any government to try and know as much about other states that could have a potential influence on their state as possible - allied or not.

Hmmm... That's an interesting idea: espionage as a kind of informational self-defense. I tend to see it more as intentional manipulation, but now that you bring it up, I'm not so sure that fits either. I might have to do a little history of spying research and see what I find.

[livius drusus]

Update.

Gilon is also identified as a specialist on Iran's nuclear program. Iran's recent announcement it was resuming enrichment of uranium, and its potential to produce nuclear weapons is of grave concern to both Israel and the U.S.

But experts say Israel fears that, ultimately, the U.S. won't be tough enough in attempting to halt any possible weapons production.

"Or they won't know exactly what the U.S. government is deciding to do, and so it may want to conduct espionage just to hedge its bets," says former U.N. weapons inspector David Albright.

[Clutch Munny]

America may be politically radically pro-Israel, but there is not normally a pipeline straight from American intelligence to the Mossad. Political support and concordance doesn't amount to wholly sharing spy stuff. So Israel has as much reason to spy on the US as anyone -- and much greater opportunity to do so than most.

[Darat]

If they were spying in the USA he looks like a good choice.

After all I'm assuming (mind you given recent revelations...) that the USA intelligence is far better or at least wider then Israel's is so having someone getting and working with all the collated data about Iran would be very sensible if you wanted to keep as close an eye on Iran as possible.