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Rice, Hadley to be subpoenaed in Israel lobby spy case

Judge rules US secretary of state, White House national security advisor and other top officials can be subpoenaed to testify in AIPAC espionage case

A US judge ruled Friday that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, White House National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, and other top officials can be subpoenaed to testify in a spying case against lobbyists for Israel.

 

Federal court judge T.S. Ellis ruled against government arguments to allow the request by lawyers for Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, former lobbyists for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), to subpoena Rice, Hadley and 13 other current and former top government officials to testify in the case, according to court documents.

 

Rosen and Weissman, accused of passing secret US defense information to unauthorized people while they worked for AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobby, hope the testimony of the government officials will support their defense that they were not engaged in spying.

 

"The defendants claim that testimony from these current and former officials will tend to show that the overt acts reflect nothing more than the well-established official Washington practice of engaging in 'back-channel' communication," according to Friday's ruling issued in Alexandria, Virginia.

 

Sharing sensitive US intelligence

Rosen and Weissman and Department of Defense official Lawrence Franklin were charged in 2005 under the Espionage Act with conspiracy to communicate national defense information after they were documented in a lengthy FBI investigation sharing sensitive US intelligence with each other and with Israel.

 

US officials alleged that between 1999 and 2004 Franklin passed secrets to Israel using AIPAC as the conduit; at the time Rosen was the lobby's policy director and Weissman an analyst on Iran.

 

Franklin, a former assistant to former undersecretary of defense Douglas Feith, pleaded guilty after a series of closed hearings and was sentenced in January 2006 to 12 years and seven months in prison and a 10,000 dollar fine.

 

Court rejects government arguments

The pre-trial ruling will allow Rosen and Weissman's lawyers to proceed with subpoenas for Rice, Hadley, former senior State Department officials Richard Armitage, Marc Grossman, Matthew Bryza and William Burns, former top defense department officials Feith and Paul Wolfowitz, and others from US defense, diplomatic and national security circles.

 

For 15 of 20 requested subpoenas, Ellis rejected government arguments that the testimonies would be immaterial to the case and unfavorable to the defense. Specific explanations on each of the cases were to be placed in classified, sealed files, Ellis said.

 

The White House declined to comment on the ruling.

 

"We are aware of the order authorizing the potential issuance of subpoenas in the Rosen and Weissman case should the case go to trial," said National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

 

"It is our understanding that no subpoenas have been issued at this time. We cannot comment further because this is an ongoing criminal prosecution."

 

The case is expected to go to trial next year.

 


פרסום ראשון: 11.03.07, 00:18
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