Reply #25: Pentagon Analyst Admits Sharing Secret Data

[Lasher]

By ERIC LICHTBLAU
Published: October 6, 2005

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 5 - A senior Defense Department analyst admitted Wednesday that he shared secret military information with two pro-Israeli lobbyists and an Israeli official in an effort to create a "backchannel" to the Bush administration on Middle East policy.

The analyst, Lawrence A. Franklin, pleaded guilty in federal court here to three criminal counts for improperly retaining and disclosing classified information, and he gave the first account of his motives and thinking in establishing secret liaisons with people outside the government.

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Mr. Franklin, 58, said in entering his guilty pleas that he had shared with the lobbyists "my frustrations with a particular policy" during repeated meetings from 2002 to 2004. He did not divulge the particular policy, but officials in the case said he was referring to the Bush administration's dealings with Iran.

Some of the more hawkish officials in the administration have pushed for a harder line in confronting Iran about its nuclear ambitions, but the administration has been deeply divided about how to engage with the country.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/06/politics/06spy.html