Wampum

A Career Move

The Associated Press reports that former Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin will plead guilty to having leaked classified information:

A Pentagon analyst charged with providing classified information to an Israeli official and members of a pro-Israeli lobbying group will plead guilty, according to the U.S. District Court clerk's office.

Lawrence A. Franklin, 58, of Kearneysville, W.Va., was indicted in June on charges of leaking classified materials -- including information about potential attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq -- to two members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and an Israeli official…

The two AIPAC officials who allegedly received the information, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, have been charged with conspiring to obtain and disclose classified U.S. defense information. No plea hearings have been scheduled in their cases.

Rosen, a top AIPAC lobbyist for more than 20 years, and Weissman allegedly disclosed sensitive information as far back as 1999 on a variety of topics, including al-Qaida, terrorist activities in Central Asia, the bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia and U.S. policy in Iran, according to the indictment against them.

Why did Franklin leak the information? In paragraph 7 of the report, we find the following:

U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty said in August that Franklin, Rosen and Weissman were motivated by a desire to advance their own foreign policy agendas and careers.

Franklin thought that violating his trust, betraying his country, violating the law, and potentially compromising the security of the Armed Services of the United States would advance his career.

It turns out that Franklin was mistaken about that, but what does it say about the culture within the Pentagon and the foreign policy establishment that he could possibily believe that selling out his country was a good career move?

Posted by Dwight Meredith at September 29, 2005 01:16 PM