Full Release - IRmep

; 2~ Probe At The Pentagon Bxamines Actio~ 00q
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Both Perle and senior Defense officials, spe~ing on the condition ofanonymity, deny that the P9licy
office or two controversial subgroups have ever engaged in intelligence-gathering activities. The
division's work, they said, has consis.ted only ofdrafting policy options for superiors.
They contend that the now-defunct P9licy Counterterrorism Coordination Group, set up after the Sept. 11
attacks to search for links between Al Qaeda and state sponsors such as Iraq, never gathered intelligence;
it only reevaluated previous government findings. The Iraq War planninggroup called the Office of
Special Plans,meanwhile, did not engage in any wrongdoing or questionable contacts, they said.
Butinvestigators for the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is closely scrutinizing the office as part of
a formal probe ofpre-Iraq War intelligence-gathering, and Democratic members ofthe House JudiciarY
Committee, who are conducting a preliminary probe, say that the full picture ofthe office's·activities may
include more than meets the eye. They are seeking additional documents and interViews from policy
officials.
After months ofdelay, the investigators said, they are getting cobperation from Feith and his staff:
Some ofthe incidents that prompted the probes are already known.
Franklin and another employee, Harold Rhode, met secretly with Manucher Ghorbanifar, an Iranian arms
dealer, in Italy in December 200i and subsequently in Paris. The Paris meeting was not approved by
Pentagon officials.
Ghorbanifar, who has been linked to the Iran-contra scandal ofthe 1980s, has said the men discussed
ways to destabilize the Iranian regime, labeled a part ofPresident Bush's tlaxis ofevil tl for support of
terrorist groups and suspected development ofwe~ponsofmass destft:lction.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said I~t fall that the meeting was requested by Iranian officials
to dis