In 2006, Rep. Jane Harman, a California Democrat, was said to have
pledged to an unidentified Israeli representative that she would appeal to
the Justice Department to drop charges of espionage against two senior
staffers of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee, the largest
pro-Israel lobby in the United States.
The Congressional Quarterly reported
that Ms. Harman was cited in an NSA wiretap as telling a "suspected Israeli
agent" that she would "waddle into" the AIPAC case in exchange for its help
to become chair of the House Intelligence Committee.
"This conversation doesn't exist." Ms. Harman was quoted by the NSA
transcript as saying.
"These claims are an outrageous and recycled canard, and have no basis
in fact," Ms. Harman said of the CQ report. "I never engaged in any such
activity. Those who are peddling these false accusations should be ashamed
of themselves."
The allegation, later reported by other American media, was disclosed
amid difficulties by the Justice Department in prosecuting former AIPAC
staffers Stephen Rosen and Keith Weissman under a rarely-used 1917 espionage
law. The trial has postponed nine times amid defense efforts to
subpoena former senior officials in the Bush administration.
In an April 20 report by CQ national security correspondent Jeff Stein,
Ms. Harman was said to have accepted an Israeli offer to persuade then-House
Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi to appoint her longtime rival as chair of
the House Intelligence Committee. The alleged conversation, reported by two
former officials familiar with the NSA transcript, took place before the
November 2006 election in which the Democrats won control of the House and
Senate.
"It's true, she was on there," a U.S. security source, referring to Ms.
Harman, was quoted as saying.
On April 21, the New York Times quoted other unidentified officials who
reported the NSA wiretap of Ms. Harman. The newspaper reported that Ms.
Harman, said not to have been the target of surveillance, was told that her
help in reducing charges against Rosen and Weissman would be rewarded by
pressure on Ms. Pelosi from a leading donor.
"In return, the caller promised her that a wealthy California donor —
the media mogul Haim Saban — would threaten to withhold campaign
contributions to Representative Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat who
was expected to become House speaker after the 2006 election, if she did not
select Ms. Harman for the intelligence post," the New York Times reported on
April 21.
In late 2006, Ms. Harman was reported to have been investigated on
suspicion of trading favors with pro-Israeli lobbyists. The FBI dropped the
investigation for lack of evidence.
Rosen and Weissman, indicted in 2005, were also accused of maintaining
contact with an Israeli embassy official as part of their quest to obtain
U.S. information on Iran's nuclear program. The official, Naor Gilon, was
said to have been under FBI surveillance until he returned to Israel.
A key
contact of Rosen and Weissman was a Defense Department analyst, Lawrence
Franklin, later convicted and sentenced to 12 years for relaying classified
documents to the AIPAC staffers.
Stein said NSA had monitored Ms. Harman as part of an operation to
uncover Israeli covert activities in Washington. He said his sources refused
to discuss the NSA operation or identify the Israeli agent.
"The identity of the 'suspected Israeli agent' could not be determined
with certainty, and officials were extremely skittish about going beyond
Harman's involvement to discuss other aspects of the NSA eavesdropping
operation against Israeli targets, which remain highly classified," Stein
wrote.
CQ said the FBI investigation of Ms. Harman was suspended by order of
then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Currently, Ms. Harman, regarded as
one of the most knowledgeable Democrats on intelligence issues, has been
chairing a subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee.
"Such accounts go a long way toward explaining not only why Harman was
denied the gavel of the House Intelligence Committee, but failed to land a
top job at the CIA or Homeland Security Department in the Obama
administration," Stein said.
