In 2005, Rosen and Weissman were indicted in wake of the sentencing of Pentagon analyst Lawrence Franklin. Franklin was sentenced to 12 years after he pleaded guilty to relaying a memorandum that reported on White House deliberations of U.S. policy toward Iran.

Rosen and Weissman had argued that they did not know that the memo provided by Franklin was classified. The two defendants sought to subpoena senior members of the Bush administration, including then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to testify on the use of AIPAC in the formation of U.S. policy in the Middle East.

The trial of Rosen and Weissman had been scheduled to begin on June 2. But U.S. Attorney Dana Boente said the government concluded that classified information could be disclosed at the trial.

Boente also said pre-trial rulings by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis had hampered the government's case. One ruling stipulated that the government prove that Rosen and Weissman knew that they were harming the United States by acquiring classified information. Ellis also allowed the defense to summon a former senior official, J. William Leonard, who planned to testify that the federal government unnecessarily classifies much of its reports as secret.

---