Ex-DoD analyst accused of spying says he was FBI double spy

Larry Franklin

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Lawrence Anthony Franklin, the former US Defense Department analyst whose 12-year prison sentence was suspended last month, now claims he was an FBI informant in a case of alleged spying by the pro-Israeli lobby in Washington. Franklin was accused by the US government of handing classified military information to Uzi Arad, Naor Gilon, an Israeli Embassy official in Washington, as well as to Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, both lobbyists with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Besides Franklin, Rosen and Weissman were also taken to court by the FBI. Last May, however, US Justice Department prosecutors dropped all charges against the two former AIPAC members. It was just a matter of time before Franklin’s sentence was also suspended. But Franklin, who last week told an Israeli newspaper that the FBI is “tainted by anti-Semitism”, now claims that in 2004 he collaborated with FBI agents in a probe of suspected pro-Israel spying activities by Rosen and Weissman. The former Defense Department analyst told in an interview that he even wore a portable recording device he was given by his FBI handlers, during meetings with the two AIPAC lobbyists. He said he was recruited by the Bureau after he was identified as the source of an intelligence leak to CBS News in early 2004. But the FBI then used the information collected with his collaboration in order to prosecute him, along with Rosen and Weissman, Franklin claims. The Washington Times, which published Franklin’s allegations, contacted FBI Assistant Director John Miller, as well as representatives of AIPAC and the Israeli Embassy, all of whom naturally declined to comment.