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Right-wing activists demonstrating for Jonathan Pollard's release outside the prime minister's official residence and the American consulate in Jerusalem on November 23, 2005.
Last update - 11:05 21/09/2006
New book reveals FBI did not suspect Pollard ties to Israel
By Amir Oren, Haaretz Correspondent

Prior to Jonathan Pollard's failed attempt to seek refuge in the Israeli Embassy in Washington on November 21, 1985, the Federal Bureau of Investigation did not suspect that he may have been spying for Israel.

In fact, even though he was a civilian analyst for U.S. Naval Intelligence, the FBI did not even know that Pollard was Jewish. This, according to a new book, "Capturing Jonathan Pollard" (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2006) by Ronald J. Olive, the retired officer from the Naval Investigative Service, a branch of Naval Intelligence, who interrogated Pollard.

According to Olive, up until the moment Pollard approached the Israeli Embassy, he was suspected of spying for another country, possibly several countries, among them Pakistan, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and others. Even after his arrest, had Pollard not admitted that he was spying for Israel, the FBI would have focused on other possibilities.
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Three days prior to his arrest, on November 18, 1985, Pollard admitted to Olive during a polygraph test that he sold Top Secret documents to a foreign country. At that point, Pollard gave up his right to remain silent and his right to have an attorney present during questioning.

During his confession, Pollard gave information regarding the scale of his espionage, the methods and the payments, but led his interrogators astray when he told them that the material was given to a CBS reporter in Afghanistan who then sent them on to Pakistan or another country.

Pollard was then released and was placed under surveillance by the FBI, which repeatedly failed to keep track of him. For his part, Pollard continued in his efforts to contact his handlers from the Bureau of Scientific Relations (Lekem), which, at that time, was being run by Rafi Eitan, a minister in Ehud Olmert's government.

The publication of the book, with reviews and testimonies from U.S. Navy veterans and other security experts, is indicative of the bitterness still felt over how Israel betrayed the United States and the "colossal" damage Pollard caused to U.S. national security.

The grudge is particularly strong toward Eitan and Colonel (res.) Aviam Sela, who recruited Pollard and served as the first of his handlers.

According to the book, Lekem officials, such as the scientific attache at the embassy in Washington, Ilan Ravid, were granted immunity in return for contributing to the American investigation.

The publication may spark a renewed public and political effort against the possibility of amending Pollard's sentence. According to the sentence passed in 1987, Pollard is scheduled for release only on November 21, 2015.

However, the issue of Pollard's punishment, which is central for many Israelis, does not receive great attention in the book. What the book does do is serve as an indictment of Israeli and American bureaucracy.

Olive compares Pollard, who received $30,000 per year from Israel for his services, to Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.

The Pollard interrogation and damage assessment operation received the code-name "Foul Play," perhaps describing the American feelings of betrayal by Israel.

Former president George Bush told Olive in 2005 that Pollard "belongs just where he is, in jail. You do know there are a lot of people trying to get him out. That really burns me out."

According to Olive, Pollard became a suspect by chance, and even after investigators found incriminating evidence in his home, such as Top Secret documents, their inclination was to regard him as careless and that he had forgotten to return materials he had taken home from work.

The string of coincidences is impressive: It was by chance that a colleague saw him go to his car, instead of the basement of the office building where they were working, as he had said he would. This resulted in suspicions voiced to a senior officer.

It was by chance that Anne Pollard, his wife, ran into an FBI surveillance vehicle, while rushing to get rid of incriminating evidence in a suitcase.

Also, by chance, the FBI had staked out a nearby building, where Robert Pelton, who worked for the National Security Agency and was also suspected of espionage, lived.

Finally, it turned out that the father of the neighbor to whom Anne Pollard had given the incriminating suitcase to hide was a U.S. Navy officer who insisted on informing the security officers at his base, who then called the FBI. This happened a few hours before Federal investigators planned to close the case against Pollard.

According to the book, bureaucracy allowed Pollard to fall through the cracks and avoid early detection of a problematic personality: he failed entry exams into the CIA, but still got into Naval Intelligence; he managed to get hold of an ID granting him access to Top Secret documents having nothing to do with his position; he used drugs and made outrageous claims (that his fiance had been kidnapped at gunpoint by Irish terrorists or that his father ran the CIA office in Prague).

On a weekly basis, Pollard managed to sneak out of his office tens of thousands of Top Secret documents and copy them. According to intelligence estimates, the number of documents involved exceeded one million pages. The number of less sensitive documents he took, for which he did not have to sign a log, is still uncertain.

According to Olive's calculations, when Pollard is released, he will receive $3.6 million in compensation from Israel. However, one of the more experienced colleagues in the interrogation team said that what motivated Pollard the most was neither greed nor ideology, but the need to be recognized.

"You botched it!" Pollard triumphantly told the FBI agent who arrested him outside the Israeli Embassy. "You thought this was a Soviet Bloc operation, didn't you?"

On the basis of Pentagon and law enforcement sources, Olive concludes that the nature of the information Pollard passed on to Israel did cause real damage to U.S. security. It is also believed that what Pollard still remembers could still undermine U.S. national security if it gets out
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  1.   Pollard 04:49  |  Omar 21/09/06
  2.   Don`t take it out on Pollard. Get after the FBI goofballs 04:56  |  yaaco 21/09/06
  3.   Pollard the Rat 05:25  |  Natallie Durson 21/09/06
  4.   A typical zionist 05:51  |  potaboc 21/09/06
  5.   bs 06:16  |  radman 21/09/06
  6.   Double standards 06:40  |  John 21/09/06
  7.   Omar (#1) 06:56  |  Gili 21/09/06
  8.   Pollard abandoned 07:06  |  Bertram 21/09/06
  9.   Pollard 08:44  |  Count Dracula 21/09/06
  10.   Oh no- here comes another visit from the American Jewish Lobby 10:05  |  Clickfool 21/09/06
  11.   Yonatan Pollard speaks highly of you too nattalie 10:14  |  Ari ben Yisrael 21/09/06
  12.   USA vs World 11:04  |  Trevor Pratt 21/09/06
  13.   Pollard is a traitor to America. 11:34  |  Devin 21/09/06
  14.   POTOBAC.Do you trust your own racially superior types? 11:52  |  PETER SM 21/09/06
  15.   OMAR IF anybody "deserves" torture then they ALL do 11:55  |  PETER SM 21/09/06
  16.   The only real traitors are those that fly planes into buildings. 12:03  |  Dan 21/09/06
  17.   An ignorant fool does not realise that Pollard is in jail .Why? 12:16  |  PETER SM 21/09/06
  18.   Typical of Israeli TRUST.. 13:00  |  Abbas 21/09/06
  19.   peter sm 14 13:44  |  potaboc 21/09/06
  20.   peter sm 17 13:47  |  potaboc 21/09/06
  21.   bertram 8 13:52  |  potaboc 21/09/06
  22.   MUCK RAKING AFTER SO MANY YEARS IS JUST SPIN 14:09  |  SID EMMESS 21/09/06
  23.   potaboc and jews 14:24  |  zadok the priest 21/09/06
  24.   potaboc and jews in sensitive positions 14:29  |  zadok the priest 21/09/06
  25.   potaboc "reason and logic" 14:31  |  zadok the priest 21/09/06
  26.   potaboc "virtues and vice are about evenly 14:34  |  zadok the priest 21/09/06
  27.   potaboc pats himself on the back 14:38  |  zadok the priest 21/09/06
  28.   potaboc and disloyalty 14:40  |  zadok the priest 21/09/06
  29.   POTOBAC.Pollard is in jail for treason.,the fool implies that 14:42  |  PETER SM 21/09/06
  30.   potaboc and ally 14:42  |  zadok the priest 21/09/06
  31.   The real double standard 15:19  |  Mikesailor 21/09/06
  32.   zadok 23 15:31  |  potaboc 21/09/06
  33.   zadok 24 15:37  |  potaboc 21/09/06
  34.   zadok 25 15:43  |  potaboc 21/09/06
  35.   Zadok 28 15:45  |  potaboc 21/09/06
  36.   zadok 28 15:52  |  potobac 21/09/06
  37.   zadok 28 15:58  |  potaboc 21/09/06
  38.   Israel Ready to Pay $3.6M for his betrayal 16:03  |  Yaakov Sullivan 21/09/06
  39.   Yawn, no surprises here 16:09  |  Mark Lincoln 21/09/06
  40.   potaboc manhattan project 16:35  |  zadok the priest 21/09/06
  41.   potaboc "vice and virtuue is evenly distributed" 16:42  |  zadok the price 21/09/06
  42.   potaboc my points are fairly clear.those who wish to read may do 16:47  |  zadok the priest 21/09/06
  43.   potaboc and rational discourse 16:53  |  zadok the priest 21/09/06
  44.   Interesting sentiment Potoboc 17:26  |  Jacob Blues 21/09/06
  45.   Yes Devin the US supports Israel 17:29  |  Jacob Blues 21/09/06
  46.   Maybe Abbas, Israel was taking a cue... 17:30  |  Jacob Blues 21/09/06
  47.   While I agree that he should be in prison, 17:33  |  Jacob Blues 21/09/06
  48.   Pollard 17:41  |  Ari 21/09/06
  49.   Well Jacob Blues, for $3Billion per annum #45 17:46  |  Yaakov Sullivan 21/09/06
  50.   pollard in prison 18:39  |  fagin 21/09/06
  51.   free pollard now 18:51  |  seth halpern 21/09/06
  52.   Putting Pollard next to the AIPAC duo, Yaacov 19:15  |  Jacob Blues 21/09/06
  53.   Unjust sentence to Pollard 20:33  |  Frank 21/09/06
  54.   America has yet to get an apology from Israel 21:08  |  Joe 21/09/06
  55.   peter sm 29 21:25  |  potaboc 21/09/06
  56.   zadok 30 21:31  |  potaboc 21/09/06
  57.   zadok 40 21:36  |  potaboc 21/09/06
  58.   zadok 42 21:45  |  potaboc 21/09/06
  59.   zadok 43 21:47  |  potaboc 21/09/06
  60.   jacob blues 44 21:54  |  potaboc 21/09/06
  61.   fagin 50 21:57  |  potaboc 21/09/06
  62.   Really Potoboc? 22:32  |  Jacob Blues 21/09/06
  63.   potobacs in the united states 22:34  |  fagin 21/09/06
  64.   Here`s the problem Frank, we don`t know the facts 22:40  |  Jacob Blues 21/09/06
  65.   potobac issues denial but the proof is here 23:10  |  zadok the priest 21/09/06
  66.   potaboc "list all the senior people involved in the 23:31  |  zadok the priest 21/09/06
  67.   potaboc manhattan project 23:45  |  zadok the priest 21/09/06
  68.   potaboc you are not well informed 23:53  |  zadok the priest 21/09/06
  69.   jacob blues 62 00:58  |  potaboc 22/09/06
  70.   fagin 63 01:01  |  potaboc 22/09/06
  71.   potaboc ally is a meaningless term 01:01  |  zadok the priest 22/09/06
  72.   zadok 65 01:09  |  potaboc 22/09/06
  73.   zadok 66 01:12  |  potaboc 22/09/06
  74.   zadok 68 01:17  |  potaboc 22/09/06
  75.   HOW MANY MORE POLLARDS ARE SPYING ON US 01:26  |  CHEEWAWA 22/09/06
  76.   The article failed to mention what information Pollard passed on 03:01  |  Jake 22/09/06
  77.   Jacobin Sullivan`s Robespierrite definition of `treason` 03:11  |  Jake 22/09/06
  78.   radman 03:34  |  John 22/09/06
  79.   RAMALLA JOE.America is yet to get an apology from the Pals. 03:57  |  PETER SM 22/09/06
  80.   RAMALLA JOE.Legal expert Eh? Did Pollard know that his info would 04:02  |  PETER SM 22/09/06
  81.   USS Liberty-stop playing anti-semitic card 04:49  |  Capt 22/09/06
  82.   seth halpern 04:59  |  John 22/09/06
  83.   Cap Weinberger: Pollard matter was unimportant.. 05:01  |  William Tell 22/09/06
  84.   most interesting 05:19  |  boris 22/09/06
  85.   If Pollard would have just shut up... 06:10  |  Fubar 22/09/06
  86.   Number of pages 07:39  |  howiej 22/09/06
  87.   Never again 08:19  |  Diane 22/09/06
  88.   jake...jake...jake 09:23  |  little hawk 22/09/06
  89.   Frank - Pollard did damage the US 09:59  |  Grif 22/09/06
  90.   USS Liberty 10:09  |  Clickfool 22/09/06
  91.   zadok 65 01:59  |  potaboc 23/09/06
  92.   zadok 68 02:06  |  potaboc 23/09/06
  93.   peter sm 72 02:10  |  potaboc 23/09/06
  94.   peter sm 73 02:14  |  potaboc 23/09/06
  95.   howiej 79 02:16  |  potaboc 23/09/06
  96.   So why is Eitan blamed at all? Especially by Anne Pollard! 13:58  |  Louis T. Sigel 23/09/06
  97.   Neverending distortions about Pollard case! 18:21  |  Louis T. Sigel 23/09/06
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