Pollard, Israel, and the 100th Congress

By Dennis J. Wamsted

The public reaction on Capitol Hill was subdued after former Naval intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard was sentenced to life in prison for selling classified intelligence to the Israeli government.

US Attorney Joseph DiGenova applauded the sentence imposed on Pollard, saying: "The sentence imposed reflects the severity of the damage." DiGenova added later that Pollard had "comprised the most documents ever" of any person convicted of spying against the US. Similarly, Assistant US Attorney Charles Leeper charged: "In combination with the breadth of this man's knowledge, the depth of his memory and his complete lack of honor, he is a very dangerous man." Perhaps most telling, in an affidavit filed with the court, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger claimed: "It is difficult for me, even in the so-called 'year of the spy,' to conceive of a greater harm to national security than that caused by the defendant in view of the breadth, the critical importance to the US and the high sensitivity of the information he sold to Israel." Earlier, Weinberger stated flatly that Pollard's action, which included selling at least 1,000 classified documents to the Israeli government, was "treason."

Capitol Hill: "Droves" of Angry Congressmen?

Although a few congressmen publicly noted their unhappiness with Israel, the general reaction was silence. After Pollard's conviction, Representatives Dick Cheney (R-WY) and Henry Hyde (R-IL), both members of the House select committee investigating the Iran-Israel-Contra affair, said that they did not believe that his was a "rogue operation," as Israeli officials have consistently claimed. "I think it was a major, very successful penetration of the US government and our intelligence agencies by the Israeli government...behavior that doesn't behoove an ally," Cheney said. Rep. Hyde agreed with Cheney's remarks, adding: "I think Pollard is...a spy in the pay of the Israeli government, and that's really outrageous from one of your closest allies."

Likewise, David Obey (D-WI), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, which has jurisdiction—along with its Senate counterpart—over the US foreign aid budget, said "this is not just another flap." The Wisconsin representative added that he recently told US Ambassador to Israel Thomas Pickering that "droves of members of Congress have expressed their anger" with Israel's behavior in the Pollard affair.

These scattered, relatively meek comments, have been the only public response from Capitol Hill. If "droves" of angry congressmen actually exist, as claimed by Rep. Obey, then they have been extraordinarily circumspect in their criticisms, and unusually adept at keeping out of the limelight.

Jack Germond, columnist for the Baltimore Evening Sun and a panelist on the "McLaughlin Group" news show, said: "the most striking thing about this story...is the absolute silence from Capitol Hill of any critics." Fellow "McLaughlin Group" panelist Robert Novak opined that congressmen "are so terrified that anything they might do might hurt their finances, might hurt their campaigns, I guarantee you...this is not going to make an iota of difference in US-Israeli relations."

Impact on Aid to Israel

Recent developments support Novak's contention. In late January the Senate Intelligence Committee released its report on the Iran-Israel-Contra affair, concluding that Israel and its American partisans, including Michael Ledeen, played crucial roles in keeping the arms-for-hostages policy alive. One month later, at the end of February, the Tower Commission reached similar conclusions in its report on the arms-to-Iran scandal. Then, as his date for sentencing drew near, Jonathan Jay Pollard contested Israel's contention that his work was not sanctioned by top Israeli officials. In a pre-sentencing statement, he indicated that his handlers' "extremely detailed" requests for US intelligence secrets showed a "highly coordinated" Israeli espionage effort in the US, one that involved Israel's "naval, army, and air force intelligence services." It was against this background that the State Department presented its fiscal year 1988 foreign aid proposal to Congress.

Roscoe Suddarth, the State Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near East and South Asian Affairs, testified before Congress on the administration's request for $3 billion in grant aid to Israel. Speaking before the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East, Suddarth said that although "this is a large amount" the State Department is "convinced [it] is justified." The request includes $1.8 billion in forgiven Foreign Military Sales (FMS) credits and $1.2 billion in cash-grant Economic Support Fund (ESF) funds.

Suddarth emphasized, however, that the administration is not satisfied with this aid level and, consequently, is seeking other "ways to enhance the effectiveness of our military assistance to Israel without appropriating larger amounts" of direct Treasury grants. Along these lines, Suddarth noted that the US had recently designated Israel as a "major non-NATO ally," which will permit Israel to participate in "cooperative defense research and development projects." What Suddarth did not say was that this designation probably will cost the US Treasury indirectly through lowered tax collections from US defense firms who lose contracts to competing Israeli firms.

Representatives Cheney and Hyde, who publicly criticized the Israeli government for its behavior in the Pollard affair, were quick to add that US aid to Israel should not be cut.

If Israel had to do without its annual $3 billion gift from the US, it would quickly slide into bankruptcy. There was apparently no thought, however, of using this dependency as a lever to bring Israeli policies more in line with US interests. "There isn't much they [Israel] couldn't get if they asked for it," Cheney noted. "It wouldn't be in our national interest to significantly reduce aid levels just because the Israelis made a dumb mistake."

Dennis J. Wamsted is a Washington, DC-based freelance writer specializing in Middle East Affairs and the US Congress.