Ex-AIPAC lobbyists win court ruling in U.S. espionage case

A federal appeals court in Virginia says two men accused of illegally disclosing national defense secrets can use some classified information at their trial.

Tuesday's ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirms a decision by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III.

Steven Rosen and Keith Wiessman are former lobbyists with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. They were charged in 2005 with conspiring to obtain classified reports on U.S. policy and sharing them with reporters and foreign diplomats.

A three-judge panel of the Richmond-based appeals court said last year's ruling by Ellis sought to protect the defendants' rights while also preventing the unnecessary disclosure of classified information.

The indictment alleges that Rosen and Weissman conspired to obtain, and then disclosed, classified reports on issues relevant to American policy, including the al-Qaida terror network; the bombing of the Khobar Towers dormitory in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 U.S. Air Force personnel; and U.S. policy in Iran.

The trial, postponed at least nine times as the defense and prosecutors wrangled over the handling of classified information and other pretrial issues, is now set for April 21 in federal court in Alexandria.

The charges against Rosen and Weissman fall under the 1917 Espionage Act, a rarely used World War I-era law that has never before been applied to lobbyists. Rosen and Weissman, who worked for the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, are not charged with espionage. The maximum penalty is 10 years per count - Rosen is charged with two counts and Weissman with one.

The appeals court ruling means the defendants are able to present the defense they have asked to present and at this point are very anxious to get this case to trial, Rosen's attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a telephone interview.

Lowell said the material Rosen and Weissman want to use at trial is crucial to their defense because it shows the information the defendants are accused of disclosing was not classified, was not national defense information and its disclosure did not violate the law.

They have argued that the information in which they traffic is commonly traded by Washington insiders, and that government officials tacitly support such disclosures.

The government could appeal Tuesday's ruling to the full appeals court or the U.S. Supreme Court, which likely would delay the trial again.

"We are reviewing the decision and will respond in court," said Peter Carr, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Alexandria. He did not elaborate.

The prosecution and the fight to keep the classified information under wraps arose during the Bush administration, and Lowell said he could not speculate on how the change in administrations might affect the case. However, he said the case represents all the things President Obama said should not occur in a government that's more respectful of free speech.

A former Defense Department official, Lawrence A. Franklin, pleaded guilty to providing Rosen and Weissman classified defense information and was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison.

Over prosecutors' objections, Rosen and Weissman previously won the right to subpoena former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other top Bush administration officials. The defense believes their testimony will support their claim that the United States regularly uses AIPAC to send back-channel communications to Israel.

Prosecutors also sought to exclude large portions of the classified material the defendants want to use at trial. The appeals court said U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis carefully examined the proposed exclusions and sought to fashion a substitution that would protect the defendants' rights, while simultaneously preventing the unnecessary disclosure of classified information.