Former Scientist Accused of Selling Missile Secrets to China

…(FBI) Agents arrested Noshir Gowadia, a native of India who received a Ph.D. at 15, at his home on Maui on Oct. 3, 2005. The FBI has accused him of selling China military secrets.e agency says Gowadia, who retired from his Northrup Grumman in 1986 - two years before the B-2 made its debut, used his home in Hawaii to design a stealth cruise missile for China… But the government alleges that Gowadia, who moved to the U.S. in the 1960s and became a U.S. citizen in the 1970s, made six trips to China from 2003 to 2005, conspiring to conceal some of his visits by getting border agents to leave immigration stamps off his passport. He allegedly gave Chinese officials classified information about missile exhaust systems that emit little heat and thus are hard to detect in the city of Chengdu in 2003. Chengdu is home to the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute, where the J-10 - a new state-of-the-air fighter aircraft that went into production last year - is being built. He is also accused of attempting to sell classified stealth technology to the Swiss government and to businesses in Israel and Germany……(Newsroom, 3 Aug 08)

Hawaii man accused of helping China design missile

…on Oct. 13, 2005, agents arrested Noshir Gowadia, a native of India who received a Ph.D. at 15, on suspicion that he sold military secrets to China… But prosecutors say Noshir Gowadia used Maui as a base to design a stealth cruise missile for China. He was indicted on 21 counts of conspiracy, money-laundering and falsifying tax returns. Despite the seriousness of the charges, the case has received scant public attention. The defendant has been out of sight since a judge determined he was a flight risk and denied him bail.  And, adding to his obscurity, Gowadia's trial date has been repeatedly postponed as both prosecution and defense lawyers have sought more time to review thousands of pages of classified evidence. The trial is now due to begin on Jan. 21. Gowadia has pleaded not guilty……(AP, 3 Aug 08)

Spy aircraft that weighs just three grams

Dutch engineers have developed a miniature remote-controlled aircraft that flies by flapping its wings like a dragonfly, has an on-board camera and weighs just three grams. Delfly Micro, made by engineers at Delft University of Technology, can fly for approximately three minutes and has a maximum speed of five meters per second, reports Eurekalert. The 10-cm long aircraft has a miniature battery weighing about one gram and a tiny camera weighing about 0.5 grams on board. The camera transmits TV quality image signals to a ground station and therefore allows the DelFly to be operated remotely by an operator from a computer. It can be manoeuvred using a joystick as if the operator was actually in the cockpit of the aircraft. (Sindh Today, 25 July 08)

Chinese communist party spy exposed by Flushing resident

Qu Xiangqi is a special agent of the Ministry of State Security of the Chinese Communist Party. He originates from Shandong and is approximately 51 years old. In the 1980’s, Qu graduated from the International Politics Department in the University of International Relations in Beijing. In China, these two schools are the primary source of recruits for China’s Ministry of State Security. Most agents disguise themselves using the identities of news reporters, scholars, merchants, laborers, or even exiles under political asylum in order to gather foreign political, economic, military, and social development intelligence. In 1985, Qu Xiangqi reported to the Ministry of State Security, where he received two years of special training. He worked in the Ministry of State Security’s Taiwan Divison for over a dozen years. He was primarily responsible for gathering intelligence from Taiwan. In 2001, he was sent to a construction company in Shandong Province to gain construction skills. In August 2006, he falsified documents and received a visa from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, and thus entered the United States. He has been to Los Angeles, Seattle, and San Francisco before he arrived in Flushing, New York City. In order to hide himself for the long run so as to gather U.S. intelligence, Qu applied for political asylum in the second half of 2007 again using falsified documents. It is possible that he currently lives on 41st Avenue and Parsons Blvd. He often changes where he lives and is on the go all the time. It is rather hard to track him down. However, if one enters his name into the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services database, his information should come up. (Epoch Times, 24 July 08)

US gov't finds 'religious bias' in accusations against Jew

A final report released by the U.S. Department of Defense finds that an Army engineer accused of spying for Israel over ten years ago was unfairly targeted because of his religion. The Army engineer, David Tenenbaum, is an Orthodox Jew. The U.S. government report did not specify any corrective action to be taken on behalf of Tenenbaum. (Arutz Sheva, 24 July 08)

58 years later, records unsealed in Rosenberg spy case

After 58 years, historians and journalists will have a chance to examine the secret grand jury testimony of witnesses in the espionage case against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.The couple was investigated in 1950, tried in 1951 for conspiracy to commit espionage and convicted and sentenced to death in 1953. Cold War scholars are hoping the grand jury transcripts will shed light on some nagging questions about the case -- primarily, just how strong the case was against Ethel Rosenberg. The National Security Archive, the American Historical Association, the Georgetown University Law Center and others have petitioned to have the transcripts of 46 witnesses released to the public. In an unusual move, federal authorities have said that because of the historic significance of the case, they do not oppose releasing the transcripts of testimony from witnesses who have died or who do not object to their release. Of the 46 grand jury witnesses, 36 are either deceased or do not object to releasing the transcripts. Three others are thought to have died; four have not been located. In a partial ruling Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied a request to release the testimony of three other witnesses, including one of the most controversial -- David Greenglass, Ethel Rosenberg's brother and a pivotal witness who testified against the couple. (CNN, 22 July 08)

U.S. judge upholds secrecy of David Greenglass testimony

A federal judge in Manhattan, weighing the secrecy of the grand jury process against the interests of public accountability, refused on Tuesday to unseal the grand jury testimony of a critical witness in the Rosenberg atomic espionage case. But with no objection from the government about the release of testimony from three dozen or so other witnesses, those records could be released soon. The witness who objected to having his testimony made public, David Greenglass, the brother of Ethel Rosenberg, was a co-conspirator and a key government witness whose testimony helped convict Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. They were executed at Sing Sing on June 19, 1953.Mr. Greenglass, now 86, is one of the most controversial figures in the enduring spy case, historians say, as years after his sister’s execution he recanted his testimony that she had typed some of his espionage notes. He had testified against her to spare his wife, Ruth, from prosecution, and is widely seen as helping to cause Ethel’s conviction and execution. (NY Times, 23 July 08)

Suspected culinary espionage at Sharrow Bay hotel

A spot of skullduggery – maybe even culinary espionage – has been suspected and one of the jewels in the Michelin-starred hotel’s crown has been put at risk of wicked devaluation. At the heart of the mystery is the famously calorific sticky toffee pudding, said to have been invented at Sharrow Bay around 40 years ago. Some ne’er-do-well has been after outing the secret of sweet-toothed success by posting the precious sticky-toffee recipe on the internet. Now the hotel is asking guests and kitchen staff to sign a secrecy agreement after suspecting a couple of trying to help pale imitators steal Cumbria’s genuine thunder. Locked in a vault on the premises, the recipe has been kept a closely-guarded secret for decades, with only a handful of trustworthy people taught how to make the dish. One couple, however, proved not to be nearly as trustworthy as promised and almost exposed all after sneaking a camera into a masterclass with the aim of posting the footage on YouTube, the video-sharing website. The plan was foiled, fortunately and sticky-toffee pud was saved to live another secret day. (News & Star, 22 July 08)

Militants kill 'US spies' in Pakistan: official

Pro-Taliban militants in a Pakistani tribal district shot dead two tribesmen after accusing them of spying for US forces in neighbouring Afghanistan, an official said Monday. A note left on the bodies in the border village of Lowara Mandi in North Waziristan tribal district, a known hub of Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, indicated that the two men were spying for US forces, the official said. "All those spying for the US will suffer the same fate,"…..(AFP, 21 Jul 08)

Defense Department Official Imprisoned for Espionage

Gregg William Bergersen, age 51, of Alexandria, Virginia, was sentenced in the Eastern District of Virginia to 57 months in prison and three years of supervised release for conspiracy to disclose national defense information to persons not entitled to receive it, according to a report obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police’s publication, The Chief of Police Magazine.  Bergersen pleaded guilty to this offense on March 31, 2008, after being arrested by federal authorities on February 11, 2008… According to a Statement of Facts filed in Court with Bergersen’s Plea Agreement, the criminal conduct spanned the time period of March 2007 to February 2008.  During this time, Bergersen was a Weapons Systems Policy Analyst at the Arlington, Va.-based Defense Security Cooperation Agency, an agency within the Department of Defense…..(Canada Free Press, 17 Jul 08)

DOD Official Sentenced for Espionage

…Bergersen, 51 of Alexandria, pleaded guilty in March to providing classified national defense information — information about U.S. military sales to Taiwan — to a New Orleans businessman from March 2007 to February 2008.In exchange for the information, Tai Shen Kuo gave Bergersen gifts, cash payments, dinners and money for gambling trips to Las Vegas. But unknown to Bergersen, Kuo passed the information to an official of the government of the People's Republic of China, according to U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg.
Kuo is scheduled to be sentenced in August after pleaded guilty to conspiracy to deliver national defense information to a foreign government. Kuo faces a maximum possible sentence of life in prison when he is sentenced in August, according to Rosenberg. Yu Xin Kang, another conspirator in the case, pleaded guilty to acting as a conduit for information between Kuo and the official from the People's Republic of China. She faces up to 10 years in prison when she is sentenced in August, according to Rosenberg……(Connection, 16 Jul 08)

Life jail in Germany for 1983 murder of Croatian dissident

A Croatian exile was jailed for life Wednesday for organizing the Cold War assassination of a writer by a Yugoslav hit squad in the southern German city of Munich 25 years ago. In 1983, Stjepan Djurekovic was shot and bludgeoned to death in a printing plant owned by the exile, who he thought was his friend. In fact, Krunoslav P was a mole working for the SDB secret services of former Yugoslavia and spying on German-based Croatian exiles…His July 28, 1983 murder was aimed at preventing him blowing the whistle on corruption by the son of a senior Yugoslav political figure. Durekovic had been in fear of his life, rarely leaving his Munich home, but trusted the printer of exile magazines…..(DPA, 16 Jul 08)

Former Analyst Sentenced to Prison in Chinese Spy Case

…The judge, Leonie M. Brinkema, rejected the prosecutor’s request that the former analyst, Gregg W. Bergersen, be sentenced to 87 months for having provided sensitive information to Tai Shen Kuo, a native of Taiwan who has lived in Louisiana for more than 30 years. Mr. Kuo duped Mr. Bergersen into believing that he was obtaining information for the government of Taiwan, an ally of the United States. In fact, Mr. Kuo was working for the intelligence service of China, according to court filings. Mr. Kuo and another accomplice, Yu Xin Kang, face possible life terms at their sentencing later this summer……(New York Times, 12 Jul 08)

Former Defense Department Official Sentenced to 57 Months in Prison for Espionage Violation

Gregg William Bergersen, age 51, of Alexandria, Virginia, was sentenced today in the Eastern District of Virginia to 57 months in prison and three years of supervised release for conspiracy to disclose national defense information to persons not entitled to receive it, in violation of 18 U.S.C., Sections 793(d) and (g). Bergersen pleaded guilty to this offense on March 31, 2008, after being arrested by federal authorities on February 11, 2008…According to a Statement of Facts filed in Court with Bergersen's Plea Agreement, the criminal conduct spanned the time period of March 2007 to February 2008. During this time, Bergersen was a Weapons Systems Policy Analyst at the Arlington, Va.-based Defense Security Cooperation Agency, an agency within the Department of Defense. While in this position, Bergersen provided national defense information on numerous occasions to Tai Shen Kuo, a naturalized U.S. citizen and a New Orleans businessman. Much of the information pertained to U.S. military sales to Taiwan and was classified at the Secret level……(Market Watch, 11 Jul 08)

Almost five years in jail for Pentagon worker for China spying

…Gregg William Bergersen was sentenced to 57 months in jail and three years supervised release by a court in Alexandria, Virginia, the US attorney's office for the eastern district of Virginia said in a statement. The trial of Tai Shen Kuo, a US businessman born in Taiwan who gave information to China, and could be sentenced to death, was set for August 8, the FBI said in a statement…..(AFP, 11 Jul 08)

Ruth Greenglass; Had Role in Rosenberg Trial

Ruth Greenglass, 84, whose testimony in the Rosenberg spy trial helped send her sister-in-law Ethel Rosenberg to the electric chair, has died… Mrs. Greenglass had been living under an alias to avoid association with the Cold War case that led to the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in 1953. Mrs. Greenglass and her husband, David, were pivotal figures in the spy case. They confessed to being part of an effort to smuggle secrets to the Soviets, and turned in the Rosenbergs as the spies who recruited them to the task…During the 1951 trial, the couple said they saw Ethel Rosenberg transcribing stolen atomic secrets on a portable typewriter in her New York apartment...By cooperating, David Greenglass, a wartime machinist in Los Alamos, N.M., who had been charged along with the Rosenbergs, was spared a possible death sentence...Since then, decoded Soviet cables have seemed to confirm that Julius Rosenberg was a spy, but doubts have remained about Ethel's involvement.

David Greenglass has said in recent years that he made up the account about the typewriter to protect his wife, who, he claimed, may have also improvised the tale to appease prosecutors….(AP, 11 Jul 08)

South Korea charges two with illegally obtaining military secrets

South Korean prosecutors indicted two former naval officers on charges of stealing state secrets Thursday. The two men, now working for German submarine manufacturer Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft, allegedly obtained classified documents about South Korea's submarine program from a navy captain, who is also under investigation… Cases involving the alleged theft of state secrets have been prevalent recently. In May, a Chinese woman (Yu Xin Kang) who is a permanent resident of New Orleans pleaded guilty in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana to charges of aiding and abetting espionage by passing US national defense information to Chinese agents. In 2006, Ching Cheong, chief China correspondent for Singapore's Straits Times was sentenced to five years in jail by a Chinese court after being convicted on charges of selling state secrets and spying for Taiwan Cheong was paroled in February…..(Jurist, 10 Jul 08)

S Korean sub agents indicted for stealing secrets

Two South Korean agents of a German submarine builder were charged Thursday with stealing military secrets, prosecutors said. The Seoul District Prosecutors' Office said the pair are accused of acquiring a four-page classified document about South Korea's submarine acquisition project from a navy captain. The two are former naval officers working for German shipbuilder Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft, it said. They were not detained. The navy captain is under investigation by military prosecutors…The Germany company has provided technology to help South Korea build nine 209-Class and two 1,800-ton 214-class submarines…In March 2006 an executive of French defence company Thales was charged with obtaining classified documents concerning radar equipment for the navy. He was later acquitted…..(AFP, 10 Jul 08)

Abraham Lesnik Secrets Case Called a Puzzle

The Justice Department's unusually tough stand against a California aerospace engineer who kept a trove of classified information at his home is prompting puzzlement and speculation about whether something more nefarious was afoot or whether prosecutors are heralding a new era in the treatment of those who are cavalier with America's secrets. Abraham Lesnik, 62, of Los Angeles, pleaded guilty last week to a single felony count of unauthorized possession of classified information, which he took home from his job at a Boeing facility in El Segundo, Calif.  Lawyers and other experts who track the government's actions in such cases were taken aback by the prosecution's indication that it may seek a prison term of more than five years…Prosecutors seeking a tough sentence for Lesnik are expected to cite the case of a National Security Agency analyst, Kenneth Ford Jr., who was convicted by a jury of taking two boxes of classified documents home on his last day of work. Ford, who blamed an FBI informant and suggested a conspiracy, was sentenced to seven years in prison. Another puzzling aspect of the Lesnik prosecution is the sheer amount of effort the government has invested. Soon after Lesnik sued Boeing in 2006 in a dispute over private information on a laptop the company confiscated, the scientist's home was put under rather obtrusive surveillance by the FBI……(New York Sun, 10 Jul 08)

Israel says 2 Arab citizens helped al-Qaida

Israel's Shin Bet security agency says that two Israeli Arabs have been arrested on suspicion they gave strategic information to the al-Qaida terror network.The agency says the Bedouin Arabs from southern Israel transferred information about army bases and other strategic sites through the Internet. The Shin Bet says the two also gave details about Tel Aviv skyscrapers and other crowded places that could be targets in attacks. (AP, 9 July 08)

PA man accused of spying on barber shop

Garrett Lee Bowden, 21, was charged with two counts of the third-class felony of intercepting wire, electronic or oral communications by Windber police following an investigation that began on May 15, according to court documents. Amy Rummel, owner of Skeeter’s barbershop along Graham Avenue, gave police three cameras she claimed were taken from the building and provided a written statement to police detailing Bowden’s alleged activities. (Daily American, 9 July 08)

Iranian 'spy' reveals Mossad methods

The Iranian sentenced to death after being convicted of spying for Israel tells of his dealings with the Mossad in an interview with Iranian television on Monday. The spy, Ali Ashtari, detailed the demands made of him by his Mossad handlers, who he said took advantage of his occupation as a computer broker whose clientele included top Iranian military officials. "I was given a laptop computer so I could communicate with him and write to him by encoded and ciphered email, and he gave me two encrypted communication devices that I was to give to my clients, to test them out," said Ashtari, adding that he was told by his handlers to plant bugging equipment in the electronics he sold to his customers…..(YNet, 7 Jul 08)

Indian spy to be handed over to BSF today

Kot Lakhpat Jail officials would hand Ram Prakash over to the Indian Border Security Forces (BSF) at Wagah on Monday (today), said jail officials. On June 30, they said, the Interior Ministry had directed the provincial government to hand Prakash over to the Indian BSF as he had served his 10-year sentence term on charges of espionage in Kot Lakhpat Jail……(Daily Times, 7 Jul 08)

Chavez Implicated In “Suitcase Scandal”: U.S. Witness

A lawyer for a defendant in the Argentine "suitcase scandal" said a U.S. government witness has sworn that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was personally involved in the affair, according to a U.S. court filing. The government witness, Carlos Kauffmann, pled guilty in March to U.S. charges arising from the seizure of $800,000 in a suitcase in Buenos Aires and agreed to testify against former associate Franklin Duran in exchange for lighter punishment. U.S. prosecutors have indicated that they had been told the $800,000 was intended for the election campaign of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the former first lady who won Argentina's presidential election in October……(Reuters, 6 Jul 08)

Cuban spies' ranks on rise in state

Cuba's communist government has rebuilt its network of spies in Florida to the levels that existed before the FBI rounded up more than a dozen members of the Cuban spy Wasp Network, according to a U.S. Army expert on Cuban intelligence. Lt. Col. Chris Simmons, an Army counterintelligence officer, told The Miami Herald that within nine to 18 months of the network's 1998 dismantling, the number of Cuban agents and intelligence officers in the state was back up to pre-Wasp Network levels -- or about 210…Simmons, a career counterintelligence expert, was in South Florida for interviews with local media -- part of an effort to publicize the book he is writing with Ana Margarita Martinez, former wife of Wasp Network spy Juan Pablo Roque. Roque eluded arrest because he fled to Cuba the day before a Cuban MiG shot down two small unarmed Brothers to the Rescue planes Feb. 24, 1996… “Cuba [is] very focused on what they need to defend the regime and what they need to acquire from the United States in the role as an intelligence trafficker,” Simmons said. “So, the way they've configured their operation is anywhere there is a Cuban exile population, there will be a presence. New York, New Jersey, Florida, southwest California and you add in U.S. military operations. The major bases they are concerned with are overwhelmingly in the Southeast.”  In Florida, Simmons said, Cuban spies monitor military installations from Key West to Tampa to Jacksonville while agents in the Miami area track key Cuban exile organizations and individuals. He said that of the estimated 210 spies statewide, about two-thirds are in South Florida. Tactics described by Simmons are similar to those employed by the Wasp Network. Evidence uncovered by the FBI showed network agents had orders to spy on the Cuban American National Foundation, Brothers to the Rescue and Democracy Movement as well as the Boca Chica naval air station near Key West and the U.S. Southern Command in the Miami area. …….(Miami Herald, 5 Jul 08)

Death sentence for 'Israeli spy'

An Iranian court yesterday sentenced to death an Iranian businessman on charges of being an Israeli spy who targeted the Islamic Republic's disputed nuclear program and its military, media said. The Tehran court handed down its sentence at a time of high tension with Israel and speculation of a possible Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear installations. Iranian media identified Ali Ashtari as the manager of a company selling communications and security equipment to Iran's government and said he had been accused of "engaging in espionage for (Israel's) Mossad intelligence service."…..(Independent, 1 Jul 08)

A Grand Jury to Unlock Rosenberg Records

…The Rosenbergs are remembered for stealing what has been called "the secret of the atomic bomb." A wire from historian Ronald Radosh, co-author of "The Rosenberg File" and a contributing editor of the Sun, reminds us that it is widely acknowledged that the atomic material given to the Soviets by Julius Rosenberg's brother-in-law, David Greenglass, served only as confirmation to the Russians of the much more accurate information they had received from atomic scientists Klaus Fuchs and Theodore Hall…The Rosenbergs are remembered for stealing what has been called "the secret of the atomic bomb." A wire from historian Ronald Radosh, co-author of "The Rosenberg File" and a contributing editor of the Sun, reminds us that it is widely acknowledged that the atomic material given to the Soviets by Julius Rosenberg's brother-in-law, David Greenglass, served only as confirmation to the Russians of the much more accurate information they had received from atomic scientists Klaus Fuchs and Theodore Hall…What then is apt to come from the sealed grand jury records? Mr. Radosh writes to us that one name to look out for is William Perl, a scientist who is now deceased but who once handed over to the Kremlin the design for the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star, the plane the Soviets copied for the MIG fighter planes used in the Korean War. The science writer Steve Usdin has pointed out that other material Perl handed over "helped communist troops in North Korea fight the American military to a standoff." Perl was indicted and convicted on a perjury charge for denying that he even knew the Rosenbergs. Another grand jury witness to watch for is the historian James Weinstein, also now deceased. When, years after the events, he was interviewed by Mr. Radosh, he quickly grasped from the questions that the FBI knew that an automobile he had lent while a student at Cornell in 1948 and 1949 was used to drive Rosenberg around Ithaca, New York, where Rosenberg was trying to find information about atomic research carried out at the University…It will also be interesting to see how the prosecutors and grand jury used information given the government by Jerome Tartakow. FBI files released in 1978 showed him to be the key secret informant in the case; he had befriended Rosenberg immediately after his arrest, when he had been made Rosenberg's cellmate. Rosenberg spilled the beans to Tartakow, bragging of his Soviet espionage…..(New York Sun)

Iran sentences man to death for spying for Israel

A Tehran court sentenced an Iranian man to death on charges of spying for Israel, the Iranian news agency ISNA reported on Monday. The defendant, Ali Ashtari, 43, a Muslim who owns an electronics import business, was arrested about 18 months ago by the Iranian Intelligence. Once the prosecution presented the court with various wiretapping equipment allegedly used by Ashtari in his espionage activities, he reportedly confessed, pled guilty on all charges and expressed remorse for his actions. "Iran is too intelligent to believe the lies the enemy's agents are trying to tell it," Ashtari told reporters at the courthouse. It is believed his statement was dictated by the Iranian Intelligence. Ashtari further told reporters that his business was based mostly on importing wireless communication devices from Dubai, "since besides imports I was also doing some planning and consulting work, so they (Israel) asked me about the communications' infrastructure in Iran." According to him, "The Mossad wanted to use me to sell marked goods to the Iranian Intelligence." He told the court he had contact with three Mossad agents, " Jacques, Charles and Tony," and that they met several times, in Thailand, Turkey and Switzerland. The three apparently presented themselves as bankers who worked for the Fortis Bank (a Belgium bank ranked among Europe’s top 20 financial institutions), and told him they were interested in exploring a business venture. The three offered him an unofficial loan – “which struck me as odd” – and proceeded to give him a laptop – “which could send and receive encrypted email” – as well as two DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) devices with a satellite hookup, “to give to my Iranian clients. I think those were wired.”…..(YNet, 30 Jun 08)

In Espionage Trial of Ex-AIPAC Employees, Appeals Court Sets High Bar for Prosecution

Two former American Israel Public Affairs Committee employees facing espionage charges won a procedural victory June 20, when a federal appeals court ruled against the prosecution’s request to lower the burden of proof in their upcoming trial. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., upheld the standard of proof set by a federal district court in the case of Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, who were indicted in 2005 for communicating classified information. The two former Aipac officials are accused of receiving classified information from Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin and passing it on to Israeli diplomats and journalists. A final trial date for the investigation, which became public in August 2004, has not yet been set. In the earlier district court decision, Judge T.S. Ellis III ruled that in order to make the case that Rosen and Weissman had broken the law, the prosecution would need to prove a series of assumptions, among them: That the defendants knew the information they were relaying was classified national defense information, that they knew it was unlawful to disclose the information and that they “had a bad-faith reason to believe the disclosures could be used to the injury of the United States or to the aid of a foreign nation.” The district court also ruled that the prosecution would have to prove Rosen and Weissman intended to harm the United States or aid another nation by disclosing the information…..(Forward, 20 Jun 08)