How Israel Trip Came Back to Haunt an Aide

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

A veteran State Department employee contends that a month-long trip he took to Israel more than two decades ago has contributed to the suspension of his security clearance, stalling and perhaps ending his career in the foreign service.

After serving in 10 overseas posts, Daniel Hirsch has spent the last three and half years behind a desk at Foggy Bottom or elsewhere in Washington as agents from the Bureau of Diplomatic Security have scoured his past to determine whether he is trustworthy and loyal enough to be allowed access to government secrets.

Mr. Hirsch told The New York Sun yesterday that the investigators have seized on a trip he took in 1983, at age 23, with a group called Volunteers for Israel. He said he was already working for the CIA at the time and cleared it with the agency before going.

“At that time, it was no big deal,” Mr. Hirsch said. “Nobody gave it a second thought until a quarter of a century later. Now, it’s a big deal.”

Mr. Hirsch, 47, acknowledges that the inquiry into his fitness to hold a clearance began with an embarrassing personal incident, a physical altercation with his wife. “Frankly, she slapped me and I slapped her back. It’s nothing to be proud about, not the most mature or great thing to do,” he said.

Mr. Hirsch said the investigation turned up no history of abuse and concluded that there was no reason to challenge his clearance for that reason. However, he said the probe quickly morphed into a wide-ranging inquiry about all aspects of his character, background, and history. “Now, I was in the system and they had to keep looking for something,” the diplomat said.

A colleague reported to investigators that Mr. Hirsch kept in his office a photograph of himself in an Israeli military uniform and once said in response to a question that he was an Israeli paratrooper.

Mr. Hirsch said he told investigators that the photo was from the month-long stint he spent with the Volunteers for Israel in 1983 and that the fatigues are standard-issue to anyone in the program. He said he never told anyone he was a paratrooper.

Mr. Hirsch said that because of his CIA service, his State Department work, and his father’s service in the diplomatic corps, the government can account for every foreign trip he has taken in his entire life. He said that besides the 1983 trip he has been to Israel only once, for a week’s vacation in 1992. He also noted that the fatigues he wore in the photo bear no resemblance to a paratrooper’s outfit.

However, according to Mr. Hirsch, the improbable allegation based on the 23-year-old photo took on a life of its own. “You’re talking about a bearded young man with long hair and jewelry,” he said. “Common sense should enter the picture at some point. I mean, ‘Hello!'”

Mr. Hirsch, who is a practicing Conservative Jew, said he was questioned at length about his connection to Israel. “Judaism is a big part of my life, but Israel is not a big part of my life,” he said. “I have almost no ties whatsoever to Israel. I voluntarily severed my ties with almost all my relatives in order to comply with government security clearance regulations years ago.” The diplomat said the State Department has known since 1978 that one of his relatives, now retired, worked for Israeli intelligence. “I’m sure that’s also a part of it,” Mr. Hirsch said.

Mr. Hirsch said the story about him being a paratrooper deserved to be checked out, but could have been quickly resolved. The seemingly open-ended inquiry into his life and an agent’s questions about whether the Maryland native could automatically become an Israeli citizen because he is a Jew have led the diplomat to conclude that he is the victim of religious bias.

“When you reach the point where a reasonable man would say this does not make sense, you ask whether they are still pursuing it because, ‘It’s Israel and he’s Jewish,'” Mr.Hirsch said. “I personally believe it’s bigotry.”

The State Department did not respond to two calls seeking comment for this article.

Writing in the Foreign Service Journal last year, a senior personnel security official, Donald Reid, acknowledged delays in the security clearance revocation system. “While the process can be time-consuming in some cases, and the department is committed to improving its efficiency, any changes to the process must take into account fairness to the employee, the best interests of the department and, ultimately, the national security interests of the United States,” Mr. Reid wrote.

The Sun reported last month that government lawyers handling appeals over security clearances have sought to introduce information about a pending criminal case against two pro-Israel lobbyists, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman. The former staffers for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee are accused of illegally obtaining classified information and passing it on to an Israeli diplomat.

The president of the Volunteers for Israel, Josef Herz, said records indicate that Mr. Hirsch’s involvement in the program was even more brief than he recalled, lasting just 18 days. He acknowledged that volunteers often work on military bases in non-combat roles, but said they have also been assigned to kibbutzes and farming duties.

“They’re not volunteering in a foreign army,” Mr. Herz said. “They’re given a set of fatigues. The work can be pretty dirty and greasy.” He said the fatigues have blue epaulets “to let the military know these are not soldiers.”

Mr. Herz said the notion that Mr. Hirsch became a paratrooper during the 1983 trip is absurd. “The whole concept that in a three or four week program in Israel someone ended up as a paratrooper is so ludicrous I don’t know what they’re thinking about,” he said.

Mr. Herz said he has heard of American participants in the program being questioned in connection with government jobs. “Obviously, if this was a policy that people who went on programs like this can’t get clearances, we’d have to tell people up front,” he said.

Mr. Hirsch said he and other diplomats who believe their clearances were challenged improperly on the basis of religion, sexual orientation, or family background have formed a group, World Crafters, to press Congress for legislation to change the process.

Mr. Hirsch said he has not been formally notified of what charge, if any, will be made against him and can only infer the direction of the probe from what he and others have been questioned about by agents.

“If your case comes to the attention of these people, you’re going to lose your security clearance, it’s just a question of how long it takes them to do it,” he said.


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