[Ha'aretz] Josh Gerstein - The defense of two pro-Israel lobbyists accused of illegally obtaining and disclosing American national security secrets will argue that some of the data the men allegedly conspired to reveal came directly from the Israeli government and was not truly secret, defense lawyers told a federal appeals court in Richmond last week. Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee were indicted in 2005 on charges that they gathered secrets from U.S. officials and passed the confidential information to journalists, Israeli diplomats and others in violation of the U.S. Espionage Act. They are not charged with receiving any classified documents, but solely with relaying information orally. Some free speech advocates have argued that what they did is what journalists do every day.
2008-11-03 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive