Pentagon denying Israelis security clearances

[Scurrilous]

New York Sun reports State Department citing AIPAC leak case as basis for denying employees with dual Israeli-American citizenship security clearances. In one case, government lawyers argued Israel was 'actively spying on United States' to justify withdrawing clearance from worker

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3252213,00.html

<snip>

"The Pentagon is citing a leak affair involving Defense Department analyst Lawrence Franklin and two pro-Israel lobbyists Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, as a basis for stripping security clearances from government contractor employees who have dual Israeli-American citizenship or family in Israel, The New York Sun reported Wednesday.

The two former AIPAC officials and the Pentagon analyst were indicted in August 2005 on charges they conspired to pass classified information to persons not entitled to receive it, including Israeli officials and members of the press.

According to the Sun, Defense Department attorneys have used the AIPAC leak indictments in at least three cases, to justify withdrawing or denying security clearances.

The paper quoted Virginian Lawyer Sheldon Cohen who has been tracking these cases, as saying: "The only reason to possibly use it (the dual citizenship issue) is to implicate anybody with a connection to Israel, to imply they cannot be trusted. There is no other conceivable reason to bring it up."

[Kagemusha]

1. Not to imply...

To argue it to people's faces.

The better question is if there is a rational basis for this argument or not.

[Karmakaze]

2. Do people with dual...

Chinese/American citizenship get denied security clearance? Or how about Russian/American?

If so, then there is nothing wrong with this. If not then fairness says that Israeli/Americans should not be treated any different.

[DELUSIONAL]

3. Fair is fair -- I agree

Israel has a history of selling technology -- that the US was not happy about.

Israel has to keep her best interest in mind (and rightly so).

Which country is the individual loyal to?

America has to keep her best interest in mind (and rightly so).

[cantstandbush]

4. Don't worry, they will get in on a "guest worker" permit and go to NIH. n

[daleo]

5. Dual citizenship is more than just a connection to another country

It also means that one can have conflicted loyalties, quite literally.