Jonathan Pollard delivered nuclear, military and technical information to his
handlers on Israel’s Arab adversaries and their Soviet benefactors – not on the
United States – when he spied for Israel from June 1984 to November 1985,
according to the newly declassified CIA 1987 damage assessment of the Pollard
case, published on Friday by the National Security Archive at George Washington
University.
The damage assessment includes new details on the specific
subjects and documents sought by Pollard’s Israeli handlers, such as Syrian
drones and central communications, Egyptian missile programs and Soviet air
defenses.
The Israelis asked for a signals intelligence manual that they
needed to listen in on Soviet advisers in Syria.
They wanted to know
about Arab and Pakistani nuclear intelligence, Arab chemical and biological
weapons, Arab military readiness, and Soviet aircraft, missiles and air
defenses.
The 166-page assessment notes that Pollard volunteered delivery
of three daily intelligence summaries that had not been requested by his
handlers, but which proved useful to them, and ultimately handed over roughly
1,500 such messages from the Middle East and North Africa Summary, the
Mediterranean Littoral Intelligence Summary, and the Indian Ocean Littoral
Intelligence Summary, in addition to the more than 800 documents on other
subjects that Pollard delivered to the Israelis in suitcases.
“We believe
that Pollard responded effectively to the general Israeli taskings, but that he
himself exerted the strongest influence on what was compromised by virtue of his
own access, interests and collective intelligence,” the document
states.
Under the heading “What the Israelis Did Not Ask For,” the
document said Israel “did not request or receive from Pollard intelligence
concerning some of the most sensitive US national security resources” and did
not express interest in US military activities, plans, capabilities or
equipment.
The documents describe a dispute among Pollard’s handlers,
Rafi Eitan and Yosef Yagur, in which Eitan asked Pollard for “dirt” on senior
Israeli officials who were providing information to the US, but Yagur told him
to ignore the request and said that gathering such information would terminate
the operation.
The damage assessment also features a detailed chronology
of Pollard’s personal life and professional career. It says he started dreaming
of making aliya at age 12 following the Six Day War and that before he started
spying, he complained of anti-Israel attitudes of his colleagues and inadequate
US intelligence support for Israel.
The document says that despite what
it called “emotional and behavior difficulties,” Pollard gained the respect of
his superiors who repeatedly promoted him. It says that he cooperated fully with
the investigation against him.
Pollard’s wife, Esther, said the documents
proved that her husband should not have to spend a second longer in
prison.
“After the release of this secret document, which confirms the
truth about Jonathan’s actions and dispels endless lies and canards, there is no
excuse for President Shimon Peres to allow Jonathan to continue to rot in
prison,” she said. “Mr. Peres is directly responsible for Jonathan’s plight and
he can bring the ordeal to an immediate end by acting now. He knows what he has
to do. Let him get on with it.”
Esther Pollard called upon Peres to seize
the opportunity presented by the release of the secret information, and the fact
that it is the US holiday season, to act without delay, to do whatever was
needed to bring her husband home immediately before it is too
late.
“There are no more excuses on the part of Jewish leaders for
silence or indifference,” she said. “This latest revelation should cause an
outcry that screams to the Heavens to save Jonathan’s life NOW! Jonathan Pollard
needs to be released now!”