[Washington Post] Walter Pincus - A memorandum opinion written by U.S. District Judge Thomas S. Ellis III on Feb. 17 and released last week may spell the end to a four-year effort by the Justice Department to convict two former pro-Israel lobbyists for allegedly violating the Espionage Act by passing classified government information to journalists and an Israeli Embassy official. The case against the AIPAC lobbyists was the first time two civilian nongovernment employees were indicted under the Espionage Act, although the type of information they gathered and passed on was similar to that collected every day by Washington journalists and think-tank analysts who cover national security affairs. Ellis determined that the government's authority under an executive order to put a "confidential," "secret" or "top secret" stamp on information does not automatically qualify it as national defense information under the law. Ellis noted that J. William Leonard, who had been director of the government's Information Security Office responsible for oversight of the entire U.S. classification system, would testify about the "back channel" practice of government officials disclosing classified information to journalists and lobbyists "for the purpose of advancing national security interests." That claim would support the defendants' argument that some of the information in the case was passed to them by government officials, some of whom, including former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, have been subpoenaed to testify if the matter goes to trial.
2009-02-24 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive