Posted on 08/29/2004 8:53:51 PM PDT by l33t
ASHINGTON, Aug. 29 - The Pentagon official under suspicion of turning over classified information to Israel began cooperating with federal agents several weeks ago and was preparing to lead the authorities to contacts inside the Israeli government when the case became publicly known last week, government officials said Sunday.
The disclosure of the inquiry late on Friday by CBS News revealed what had been for nearly a year a covert national security investigation conducted by the F.B.I., according to the officials, who said that news reports about the inquiry compromised important investigative steps, like the effort to follow the trail back to the Israelis.
As a result, several areas of the case remain murky, the officials said. One main uncertainty is the legal status of Lawrence A. Franklin, the lower-level Pentagon policy analyst who the authorities believe passed the Israelis a draft presidential policy directive related to Iran.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I keep on thinking this is old news. I could've sworn the story broke a year ago... quietly.
The leak to CBS seems to have come from the FBI, which is now complaining about the premature publicity.
Hrm, now why would someone want to leak info about a mole that's cooperating, thus blowing his cover?
This rabbit hole just got a bit deeper...
They should still be expected to exercise discernment and discretion. Do you think they ran it past the FBI to see how sensitive it might be?
The reason the lamestream media went with this in the first place was they were hoping it would HURT BUSH ! They don't care what damage it does to the country or anything else as long as it HURTS BUSH ! To use the favorite phrase of the Lurch Lemmings..." I question the timing of this" .
Actually, my post is a satire of the headlines. We ought to see in the papers, but we won't.
The NYTimes spin.
"The leak to CBS seems to have come from the FBI, which is now complaining about the premature publicity."
Where did you find that the "FBI" is the leaker, more likely somebody on the "INTEL" committee or Armed Services Committee in Congress?
60 Minutes Correspondent Lesley Stahl reports the FBI believes it has "solid" evidence that the suspected mole supplied Israel with classified materials that include secret White House policy deliberations on Iran.
The FBI investigation, headed up by Dave Szady, has involved wiretaps, undercover surveillance and photography that CBS News was told document the passing of classified information from the mole, to the men at AIPAC, and on to the Israelis
It is not clear who the leaker is, but either it is someone at the FBI/DOJ or it is another party with detailed knowledge of the ongoing investigation.
"It is not clear who the leaker is, but either it is someone at the FBI/DOJ or it is another party with detailed knowledge of the ongoing investigation."
This is correct it is not clear. Clarity of the who/what/where/when/why is not the point of the leak then what is?
Makes no sense whatsoever that FBI/DOJ would leak to harm their own investigation.
Earlier article said the Congressional "INTEL" committee was aware of ongoing investigation. The leak was not about helping solve the case it was about disrupting, and causing harm in as many directions as possible.
If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.
Your're getting warmer.
Maybe Bush supporters leaked it so it wouldn't blow up in his face later.
Or perhaps the Mossad found out about the FBI watching the guy. Heck, who's to even guess what is dis-information and what is real anymore.
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