During the Obama re-election campaign and afterward some people have been stirring the pot on ex-Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, but now we can mull this item which popped up from the National Security Archive today. I don’t think we can say off the bat whether or not it will add or detract from the case Pollard’s allies in Israel and the U.S. are making for freeing Pollard from the clutches of the U.S. Department of Justice. But here are some highlights:
- Pollard was spying on Pakistan, Arab states, and the USSR–not the U.S.
- There’s a 21-page personal profile of Pollard, testifying to behavior which would characterize him as a U.S. security risk
- Pollard and Israel were keenly interested in air defence systems in Libya, Tunesia, USSR, Egypt, elsewhere
- US officials were alarmed at the revelation that Israel had mounted an operation to penetrate U.S. intelligence
- At the same time, Pollard’s aid to Israel permitted Israel to neutralize U.S. intelligence-gathering on Israel