Posted on 03/05/2002 2:27:35 PM PST by jmp702
U.S. Deports Israelis Amid Warnings of Espionage Activities
By Ted Bridis Associated Press Writer
Published: Mar 5, 2002
WASHINGTON (AP) - Authorities have arrested and deported dozens of young Israelis since early last year who represented themselves as art students in efforts to gain access to sensitive federal office buildings and the homes of government employees, U.S. officials said.
A draft report from the Drug Enforcement Administration - which first characterized the activities as suspicious - said the youths' actions "may well be an organized intelligence-gathering activity."
Immigration officials deported them for visa violations; no criminal espionage charges were filed.
The arrests, made in an unspecified number of major U.S. cities from California to Florida, came amid public warnings from U.S. intelligence agencies about suspicious behavior by people posing as Israeli art students and "attempting to bypass facility security and enter federal buildings."
The Israelis were arrested and deported on charges of working in the United States without authorization or overstaying visits on tourist visas, said Russ Bergeron, a spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Washington. He described dozens of arrests since early 2001 but gave no exact figures.
The DEA report said a majority of the students questioned by U.S. investigators acknowledged having served in military intelligence, electronic signals interception or explosive ordnance units in the Israeli military. The DEA said one person questioned was the son of a two-star Israeli general, one had served as the bodyguard to the head of the Israeli Army and another served in a Patriot missile unit.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Yaffa Ben-Ari said it was "nonsense" that the students were spying on the United States.
Another Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Irit Stopper, confirmed that a few Israelis posing as art students were expelled from the United States for working without permits. However they were not accused of espionage, she said. She did not say how many Israelis were expelled and did not give any additional details.
The DEA report was first obtained by a French Web site that specializes in intelligence news, Intelligenceonline.com, and confirmed Tuesday as authentic by DEA spokeswoman Rogene Waite in Washington. The Web site said 120 Israelis had been arrested.
"That these people are now traveling in the U.S. selling art seems not to fit their background," the report said.
An FBI official, speaking on condition of anonymity, noted there were no espionage charges filed against any of the individuals and that they had been deported. Asked whether any spying activity occurred, the official repeated that no charges had been filed.
A Justice Department official, also asking not to be publicly identified, said investigators have been aware of some "alleged linkage" between the students and alleged espionage activities in the United States since early 2001, and said authorities have made arrests in Dallas, Chicago, San Diego and in south Florida. INS spokesman Rodney Germain in Miami said five or six people were arrested in that area at least six months ago on immigration counts.
Although security experts at the DEA first characterized the youths' behavior as suspicious, and INS authorities later arrested them, the FBI typically investigates espionage cases in the United States.
The DEA report said that among U.S. sites apparently targeted was Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, home to the military's AWACS surveillance planes and the place where many of the nation's B-1 bombers are repaired. Investigators also said that one female art student went to the home of a worker for the Environmental Protection Agency in Denver to sell paintings and returned later to photograph the house, according to the report.
No one within the Justice Department has expressed concerns about the Israeli students possibly committing espionage, Justice spokesman Bryan Sierra said. The deputy U.S. attorney general, Larry Thompson, declined to discuss the arrests when asked about them during a news conference Tuesday.
The U.S. Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive, a federal agency, circulated a public warning in March 2001 urging employees to report contact with people describing themselves as Israeli art students.
"These individuals have been described as aggressive," the warning said. "They attempt to engage employees in conversation rather than giving a sales pitch."
Cooperation with Israel, a longtime key ally, is increasingly important in the U.S. war on terrorism.
AP-ES-03-05-02 1658EST
I am concerned, by people who post over and over again on FR, talking points for the Islamic terrorists and the regimes that support them, people that go to Lebanon ...
Well, you ripped off the bogus Fox story for your story truth be told. (-: Actually, this is just a retread of the Fox story. And still, there is no proof of spying. None at all. LOL. You might get lucky with the anthrax story. Who knows? Heh.
There were a bunch of stupid Israeli kids photographing each other in front of the burning towers, before anthing was actually known and it looked like a bad accident. They were speaking to each other in loud Hebrew. This behavior looked strange, and someone reported them. They were apprehended and held for weeks: turned out to be be movers trying to make a buck without a work permit.
That's all. No celebrations on rooftops -- that was Arab Americans in Jewsey. Stop spreading rumors and falsehoods, please. we have enough enemies in the world without inventing ones.
Not to mention the ones who think the pulse of America can be deciphered at the check out line of their Halal market in Dearborn.
I am concerned, by people who post over and over again on FR, talking points for the Islamic terrorists and the regimes that support them, people that go to Lebanon ...
Ahhh... the old if you say something that's critical of Israel or Jews you must a "terrorist" canard.
I might be wrong, but somehow I don't think you'd be spouting this non-sense if it had been dozens of Chinese or Arabs that had been deported.
Do you support all espionage against the USA or only the espionage that furthers the interests of Jews?
Anything for Israel, eh?
Ah, so Mosad has infiltrated the FreeRepublic? They wisper in Jim's ear --- and the thread gets pulled, is that the case?
You live in a very troubled world, Lady. I really do not know which documents you read --- you should be reading doctor's prescriptions instead.
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j112801.html
These new reports also echo analysis first made by me. But I don't mind. As long as the truth gets out: and it is, finally, getting out. And when the FULL truth is out there, Veronica, watch out: becaause the Amen Corner is going to have some answering to do.....
If this is true, I wish to God we had listened.): A bunch of kids who were not spies it seems are nothing compared to what happened in September. Are we listening now, I wonder?
But let's keep the ones that restrict their intelligence gathering to shadowing the 100,000 or so Arabs inside our universities and 7/11s
Fine. But how do we identify the ones restricting their intelligence gathering to this purpose? Also, if the means by which these Arabs are tracked can be used for intelligence against the US, I don't know about you, but I regard that as a potential problem.
Perhaps this is all just "not playing favorites" stuff for the Arabs. However, note who was involved --- The DEA. That's drugs, not spies. Perhaps some of these folks were involved in an Extasy ring???
Vindication is sweet!!!
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