For some truly illuminating information regarding the situation with the Israeli spy over at the Pentagon, head on over to Laura Rozen's blog. The woman rocks. Incredible sources and breaking hard news frequently.
For months, I have been working with my colleagues Paul Glastris and Josh Marshall on a story for the Washington Monthly about US policy towards Iran. In particular, it involves a particular series of meetings involving officials from the office of the undersecretary of defense for Policy Doug Feith and Iranian dissidents. To that end, we have pursued and cultivated numerous sources with knowledge of those officials, those meetings, and more broadly, Feith's office's seeming attempts to forge a rogue US foreign policy to Iran out of the Pentagon.
As part of our reporting, I have come into possession of information that points to an official who is the most likely target of the FBI investigation into who allegedly passed intelligence on deliberations on US foreign policy to Iran to officials with the pro-Israeli lobby group, AIPAC, and to the Israelis, as alleged by the CBS report. That individual is Larry Franklin, a veteran DIA Iran analyst seconded to Feith’s office.
Here is what I was told in the days before the FBI investigation came to light...
Makes you want to read more, doesn't it. Well, go do so.
Posts
August 28, 2004 12:44 AM
It's possible that Laura's "source" could be Franklin.
Read passages like,
"A couple weeks ago, my source told me, he was visited by two agents of the FBI, who were asking about Franklin. My source couldn’t tell if Franklin was being investigated for possible wrongdoing, or if the FBI was visiting him because Franklin required some sort of higher level security clearance or clearance renewal, perhaps in order to get some sort of new position or posting abroad."
as,
Franklin told me the FBI asked him some questions but he couldn't tell exactly what they were getting at.
and,
"My source soon after ran into another official from Feith's office, the polyglot Middle East expert and Bernard Lewis protege, Harold Rhode. My source mentioned the FBI meeting and asked Rhode if Franklin was in trouble. “It’s not clear,” Rhode allegedly told my source."
as,
Franklin asked Rhode, "Why is the FBI asking me questions? Am I in trouble?"
If Franklin is the "source", the passage,
"According to my source (Franklin?), Franklin passed the information to the individual from AIPAC with the hope it could reach people at higher levels of the US government who would act on it. AIPAC presented the information to Elliot Abrams in the NSC. They also presented the part that involved Israelis who might be targeted to the Israelis, with the motivation to protect Israeli lives."
sounds more like Franklin trying out a way to cover his butt...with Laura as a sounding board.
just a thought
August 28, 2004 12:47 AM
I don't know. If Franklin was Laura's source, it seems to me that she wouldn't have come out and named him as the focus of the investigation.