A Long Enough Sentence
This Sunday marks the 20th anniversary of the unprecedented life sentence meted out to Jonathan Pollard, an American naval intelligence officer who transmitted to Israel classified documents in the mid-1980s concerning Iraq, Syria, and other Arab states.
The information Pollard transmitted was part of a vital intelligence flow previously shared by America with Israel, but then limited upon orders of the deputy CIA director, Bobby Inman, following Israel's destruction of Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981.
As Mr. Inman explained in a press conference in 1994, he was concerned that American-supplied satellite photography had been used to carry out the operation. So he stipulated that in the future, Israel would specifically have to ask for information pertaining to areas more than 250 miles from its borders.
Now in his 22nd year in prison, Pollard has long ceased to be incarcerated for what he was charged with and pleaded guilty to, conspiracy to disclose classified information to Israel with intent that it would be used to Israel's advantage.
Pollard was never accused of intending to — or even of having reason to believe that the information he transmitted to Israel could — cause injury to America. Indeed, no evidence has ever been presented of any damage caused to America by his actions or any consequence that would begin to justify his life sentence or his continued imprisonment.
Even the former defense secretary, Caspar Weinberger, who delivered a pre-sentencing damage assessment of Pollard's action — which until today the government has not substantiated — later seemed to retreat from his initial position. When asked in a 2002 interview why he did not mention the Pollard case in his memoirs, Weinberger responded, "… the Pollard matter was comparatively minor. It was made far bigger than its actual importance."
The bona fides of those still opposed to Pollard's release raise serious concerns. It is highly questionable whether they are driven simply, if at all, by disdain for espionage against America. Spies as a class do not endear themselves to federal prosecutors and judges, the intelligence community, or the American public.
And yet, of the tens of Americans caught spying for friendly or neutral countries both before and after Pollard's arrest, none received a sentence even remotely close to life, with the average sentence being between two and four years. Most recently, Ronald Montaperto, a Defense Intelligence Agency analyst who admitted passing secret and top-secret intelligence to the Chinese, was sentenced last September to three months in prison.
In fact, Pollard's sentence is comparable only to the punishments meted out to the most notorious spies for the Soviet Union. Of the more than 100 Americans caught spying for America's adversaries during the past 50 years, only about 10% were sentenced to life. For example, CIA agent David Barnett, who sold the Soviets the names of 30 American agents, was given an 18-year sentence in 1980 and paroled after 10 years. Michael Walker, of the Walker family Soviet spy ring, was sentenced to 25 years in 1985 and released after serving 15. William Kampiles, a CIA officer who sold the Soviets the operating manual to the KH-11 satellite, America's eye in the sky, received a 40-year sentence in 1978 and was released after 18 years.
Abdelkader Helmy, an Egyptian-born American scientist, was convicted in 1989 of trying to export advanced American missile technology to Egypt, an export scheme financed by Iraq. According to a Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that the federal prosecutor submitted to court, Helmy's activities were intended to facilitate Egypt and Iraq's Condor ballistic missile program. He received a 46-month sentence.
John Lindh, an American who joined the Taliban terrorists fighting America, received a 20-year sentence in 2002. Thus, exposing American agents, compromising America's most sophisticated electronic intelligence capabilities, attempting to export weapons material, and even fighting alongside enemy combatants are all forgivable offenses. But transmitting data about Arab states to America's closest ally in the Middle East is not.
The only explanation for this unforgiving stance is that there are those in the intelligence community who cannot abide America's close alliance with Israel and the large number of those in government who value that relationship. And this posture is hypocritical as well, considering that Israel has caught people who spied on it for America before and after Pollard's arrest.
Whatever angry message those still opposed to Pollard's release may want to send to Israel has already been more than amply delivered. And whatever harsh warning is being directed at supporters of Israel in the American government is being carried to a reprehensible extreme. Indeed, given that Pollard constitutes 100% of all Americans who spied for Israel, but far less than 1% of all Americans convicted of espionage in the past 50 years, the very notion that such a warning is required, let alone in any way appropriate, is shameful.
As the former CIA director, James Woolsey, recently argued, the 21 years that Pollard has already spent in prison is a "long enough sentence." He should, at long last, be freed.
Mr. Pollard, father of Jonathan Pollard, is professor emeritus of biological sciences at Notre Dame University. Mr. Kirshenbaum is an attorney in New York and Israel.
