Full Release - IRmep

FBI Looking Deep Into Defense Office
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Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.
http://www.di..O IadminlEARLYBIRD10408301s200408303IS93I.htm1
Franklin, a former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst who lives in West Virginia, could not be reached
for comment yesterday.
Investigators are said to be looking at whether Franklin acted with authorization from his superiors, one
official said.
Two sources disclosed yesterday that the information believed to have been passed to Israel was the draft
ofa top-secret presidential order on Iran policy known as a National Security Presidential Directive.
Because ofdisagreements over Iran policy among President Bush's advisers, the document is not
believed to have been'completed.
Having a draft ofthe document - which some Pentagon officials may have believed was.insufficiently
tough toward Iran - would have allowed Israel to influence U.S. policy as it was being made. Iran is
among Israel's main security concerns.
Two or three staffmembers ofthe pro-Israel lobby have been interviewed in the case. In aprepared
statement, the lobby said any allegation ofcriminal conduct was "false and baseless.II It is cooperating
fully with investigators, the statement said.
Israeli officials insisted they stopped spying on the United States after the exposUre ofJonathan Pollard,
who was arrested in 1985 and sentenced to life in prison for spy'ing for Israel.
White Hou~e spokesman Scott McClellan would not discuss the investigation.
I1Qbviously any time there is an allegation ofthis nature, it's a serious matter," he said while traveling
with the President in Ohio.
Other sources said the FBI investigation was more wide-ranging than initial news reports suggested.
They said it had involved interviews ofcup-ent and former officials at the White House, Pentagon and
State Department.
Investigators have also asked about the security practices ofseveral other Defense D~partment civilians,
they said.
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