WASHINGTON - President Bush's top national
security advisers were told more than two years ago of an FBI investigation into whether classified information was passed to
Israel by a powerful pro-Israeli lobbying group, U.S. officials
said on Thursday.
The counterintelligence investigation started earlier than
the probe disclosed last week focusing on whether a Defense
Department analyst passed secret documents about Iran to
Israeli intelligence through the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee, or AIPAC.
A senior administration official said national security
adviser Condoleezza Rice and her deputy, Stephen Hadley, were
"apprised of the counterintelligence investigation of AIPAC"
more than two years ago.
The official said the investigation centered on whether
AIPAC was acting as a "conduit" -- relaying information the
group collected from the administration and the U.S. Congress
to Israel, Washington's closest ally in the Middle East.
The Washington Post reported in its Friday edition that the
FBI counterintelligence agents were also investigating whether
Pentagon officials leaked classified information to Iraqi
politician Ahmed Chalabi.
The newspaper quoted a senior U.S. official as saying that
senior White House officials, including Rice and Hadley, had
been apprised that Chalabi - once a Pentagon favorite but now
out of favor with the U.S. government - is part of the
investigation.
Since the White House National Security Council was
informed of the case, Bush, Rice and other senior
administration officials have praised AIPAC.
Addressing the group in May, Bush said AIPAC was "serving
the cause of America," including its role in highlighting "the
threat posed by Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons."
In a March 2003 speech, Rice called AIPAC "a great asset to
our country."
AIPAC, which has denied any wrongdoing, pointed to those
comments and others as "vindication of AIPAC's loyalty and
trustworthiness."
The White House declined to comment on whether knowledge of
the counterintelligence probe affected contacts with AIPAC.
The group has had high-level contacts with the Bush White
House, as well as previous U.S. administrations. "Those
contacts continue unaffected," an AIPAC official said.
As part of the investigation disclosed last week, FBI
agents met on Friday with two AIPAC officials to ask about
their contacts with the Pentagon analyst.
The FBI copied one of their computer hard drives and AIPAC
provided investigators with some documents, sources said on
Wednesday. The interviews, stopped when the AIPAC officials
asked for their lawyers, have yet to resume, officials said.
The FBI declined to comment.
AIPAC said it is cooperating fully with U.S. investigators.
"Neither AIPAC nor any of its employees has violated any
laws or rules, nor has AIPAC or its employees ever received
information they believed was secret or classified," the
organization said.
The sources said the two AIPAC officials interviewed by the
FBI were not advised that they were targets of the
investigation, launched more than a year ago on suspicions the
Pentagon analyst passed secret papers to the Jewish state about
one of its most bitter enemies, Iran.
Israel has denied spying on its main ally.
The top-ranking Democrat on the U.S. House of
Representatives Judiciary Committee, John Conyers, has called
for the committee to investigate the handling of the classified
material.
But some of the lawmakers briefed on the FBI's case have
reacted skeptically to the evidence presented so far,
congressional aides said.
© 2004 Reuters Ltd
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