Bad Idea: Convicted Spy Jonathan Pollard Could Be Freed Soon After Nearly 30 Years In Prison.

Convicted spy Jonathan Pollard may soon be released from prison, U.S. News & World Reports reports.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jonathan Pollard, an American who was convicted of spying for Israel in a sensational espionage case that inflamed public sentiment, could be released from federal prison within months, his lawyer and the Justice Department said Friday.

Pollard becomes eligible for parole in November, on the 30th anniversary of his arrest on charges of selling classified information to Israel. He will be presumptively eligible for release unless the U.S. Parole Commission determines that he has a record of bad behavior in prison or is likely to commit new crimes.

U.S. officials say they're unlikely to oppose his parole. But the Justice Department says it expects Pollard to serve out his entire sentence. 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2015/07/24/convicted-spy-pollard-could-be-freed-from-prison-soon

You can also read my 1999 Philadelphia Inquirer piece on why Pollard should not be released from prison via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2014/04/dont-do-it-mr-president-my-philadelphia.html

And you can read my Counterrorism magazine piece on Ronald J. Olive, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) special agent who investigative Pollard via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2014/04/a-look-back-at-jonathan-pollard-spy-case.html

Don't Do It, Mr. President: My Philadelphia Inquirer Piece on Not Pardoning Convicted Spy Jonathan Pollard

In my last post, in light of a rumor that Secretary of State Kerry is making a deal to release convicted spy Jonathan Pollard to the Israelis in exchange for their release of Palestinian prisoners, I offered a look back at the Pollard spy case with a link to my interview with Ronald J. Olive, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) special agent who investigated, arrested and interrogated Pollard - http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2014/04/a-look-back-at-jonathan-pollard-spy-case.html.

 

The negotiated release of Pollard, a former Navy analyst who spied for the Israelis, has come up before. When President Clinton was thinking of releasing Pollard in 1999, CIA Director George Tenet threatened to resign if Pollard was released. The threat killed the deal.

 

When rumors of Pollard's negotiated release floated in 1999, I wrote a piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer stating that it was a bad idea.

 

You can read the piece via the piece via the below link:

 

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PardonPollard.jpg 

 

It is still a bad idea.

 

Note: The above U.S. Navy photos show Pollard at his desk, gathering material to sell to the Israelis.  

A Look Back At The Jonathan Pollard Spy Case

With a rumor floating in news circles that Secretary of State Kerry is offering to release convicted spy Jonathan Pollard to the Israelis in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners - a truly bad idea in my view - I thought to offer a look back at Pollard's espionage case.

A while back I interviewed Ronald J. Olive, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service special agent who investigated, arrested and interrogated Pollard, for Counterterrorism magazine.

You can read the magazine piece via the below links:

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase1.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase2.jpg      

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase3.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase4.jpg

Defense Intelligence Agency Security Briefing: A Look Back At Convicted Spy Jonathan Pollard

With reports that Israeli President Shimon Peres recently asked President Obama to pardon convicted spy Jonathan Pollard, I thought it would be interesting to look back at the Pollard case.

A recent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) had the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) release an old security briefing video on Pollard to the IRmep for Policy and Law Enforcement.

In the late 1980s, the time the DIA produced this briefing video, I was the adminiatrative officer of a Defense Department command in Philadelphia. I oversaw security programs for the command and I conducted security briefings and seminars for our military and civilian personnel.

I often visited DIA headquarters for briefings and security training and I brought a copy of this video home to Philadelphia and used it during some my own briefings.

You can watch the video via the below link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f__MgT9FU-A

I later interviewed the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Special Agent, Ronald J. Olive, who investigative Pollard. You can read my Counterterrorism magazine piece via the below links:

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase1.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase2.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase3.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase4.jpg  

Convicted Spy Jonathan Pollard Tried To Spy For Australia

 

Ronald Kessler, a columnist for Newsmax.com and the author of a good number of books on the FBI, the CIA and the White House, offers an interesting column on convicted spy Jonathan Pollard.

Jonathan Pollard has portrayed himself as an Israeli patriot who spied for Israel to prevent another Holocaust. But during questioning by the FBI, Pollard admitted that before spying for Israel, he provided Australia with classified information in an effort to become a spy for that country.

You can read the rest of Ronald Kessler's column via the below link:

http://www.newsmax.com/RonaldKessler/Jonathan-Pollard-spy-Australia/2011/09/19/id/411526

In Kessler's column he notes that Ronald J. Olive, the Naval Investigative Service Special Agent who investigated Pollard and wrote Capturing Jonathan Pollard: How One of the Most Notorious Spies in Americian History Was Brought to Justice, mentions in his book that Pollard tried to spy for Australia, but the mainstream press ignored this fact.

I interviewed Olive for Counterterrorism magazine a while back. You can read the interview via the below links:

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase1.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase2.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase3.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase4.jpg

Note: Pollard and his wife appear in the above DoD photo.

The Case Against Convicted Spy Jonathan Pollard

Ronald Kessler, a noted journalist, Newsmax.com columnist and author of a good number of books on the FBI and the CIA, including his current book, The Secrets of the FBI, wrote an interesting column on convicted spy Jonathan Pollard.

As chief of the Justice Department’s counter-espionage section, John L. Martin supervised the prosecution of Pollard and 75 other spies. Only one case resulted in acquittal.

He tells Newsmax that no other spy for a friendly country has ever been prosecuted for espionage, as Pollard was. “No spy for a U.S. ally has engaged in anything like the magnitude of the Pollard case and been charged with espionage. There are no cases comparable to Pollard’s.”

Indeed, Pollard gave Israel access to classified documents that would fill a space 10 feet by 6 feet by 6 feet. “The enormous amount of material he turned over to the Israelis applied to just about everything imaginable, including communications intelligence information and some of our most closely guarded secrets,” Martin says. “A good deal of it did not relate to Israeli security.”

You can read the rest of the column via the below link:

http://www.newsmax.com/RonaldKessler/jonathan-pollard-israel/2011/08/22/id/408203

I interviewed Ronald J. Olive, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent who helped bring down Pollard, for Counterterrorism magazine.

You can read the magazine piece via the below links:

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase1.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase2.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase3.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase4.jpg

Free Convicted Spy Jonathan Jay Pollard? Never

Retired CIA officer Frank Anderson makes a good case against pardoning convicted spy Jonathan Jay Pollard in The Los Angeles Times.

You can read the piece via the below link:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-anderson-pollard-20110211,0,4722186.story

I wrote a piece for The Philadelphia Inquirer back in 1999 that also made the case that Pollard should not be pardoned.

You can read the piece via the below link:

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PardonPollard.jpg

I also interviewed the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Special Agent, Ronald J. Olive, who put Pollard away.

You can read my piece, which appeared in Counterterrorism magazine, via the below links:

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase1.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase2.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase3.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase4.jpg

Former Top Intelligence Official Blasts Lobbying Effort To Release Convicted Spy Jonathan Pollard

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Jeff Stein's column at The Washington Post offers the critical response of a former top U.S. intelligence official to the lobbying effort to have convicted spy Jonathan Pollard released from prison.
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(Pollard is seen in the above FBI/NCIS surveillance photos).
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You can read the column via the below link:
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http://voices.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2010/12/former_top_intelligence_offici.html
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You can also read my piece on Ronald J. Olive, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Special Agent who investigated Pollard via the below links:
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http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase1.jpg
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http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase2.jpg
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http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase3.jpg
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http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PollardSpyCase4.jpg
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Below is a link to my 1999 commentary concerning the Pollard case in The Philadelphia Inquirer:
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http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/PardonPollard.jpg