Jonathan Pollard, Convicted Spy, Completes Parole and May Move to Israel

Jonathan Pollard, Convicted Spy, Completes Parole and May Move to Israel

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/20/us/politics/jonathan-pollard-parole-ends.html

The former Navy intelligence analyst served 30 years in prison for stealing American secrets during the Cold War. Some of them ultimately ended up with the Soviet government.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/20/us/politics/jonathan-pollard-parole-ends.html

By Julian E. Barnes

Nov. 20, 2020Updated 6:20 p.m. ET


-snip-

American national security officials had long objected to any easing of Mr. Pollard’s punishment, highlighting the damage Mr. Pollard did to American intelligence collection. But objections from intelligence officers have largely become muted, with some acknowledging that Mr. Pollard has both served his time and fulfilled his parole obligations.

-snip-

Arrested in 1985, Mr. Pollard eventually pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors who agreed to seek a yearslong sentence. But the judge, relying on a once-classified damage assessment written by Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger, sentenced him to life in prison. Mr. Pollard ultimately served three decades behind bars, the longest stretch in prison for an American who illegally gave material to an allied government.

-snip-

The damage that Mr. Pollard did in particular to the National Security Agency’s collection efforts was too great, intelligence officials said, to allow any early release, pardon or commutation. In 1999, as the Clinton administration was considering a pardon, intelligence officials revealed that some of the stolen material made its way to the Soviet Union, either stolen by Russian spies or handed over by Israeli intelligence officials seeking the release of Jewish families from Russia.

-snip-

“If he’s served his time and finished parole, I would see no damage in letting him go to Israel,” said Greg Treverton, a former National Intelligence Council chairman. “Any secrets he knows are now out or old.”