Materials presented in chronological order.
Shenon, Philip. "Navy Employee Arrested as Spy." New York
Times, 22 Nov. 1985. [http://www.nytimes.com]
A civilian counterintelligence analyst for the Navy, Jonathan Jay Pollard, "was arrested [on 21 November 1985] on espionage charges, accused of selling classified code information to the Israeli Government, Federal officials said. The analyst ... was arrested near the Israeli Embassy here. Federal officials said he was trying to get the Israeli authorities to grant him political asylum."
Shenon, Philip. "Shultz Welcomes Apology by Israel." New
York Times, 2 Dec. 1985. [http://www.nytimes.com]
"Secretary of State George P. Shultz said [on 1 December 1985] that the United States welcomed Israel's apology for the purported espionage activities of Jonathan Jay Pollard."
Blitzer, Wolf. "Pollard:
Not a Bumbler, but Israel's Master Spy." Washington Post, 15
Feb. 1987, C1.
Washington Times. Editors. "Prosecutors Emphasize Damage Caused by Pollard." 19 Feb.1987, 5.
Kurtz, Howard. "Pollard: Top Israelis Backed Spy Ring." Washington Post, 28 Feb. 1987, A8.
Shipler, David K. "A Resignation Eases but Doesn't End Strains Over the Pollard
Spy Episode." New York Times, 31 Mar. 1987. [http://www.nytimes.com]
"Strains in the Israeli-American relationship appear to have been eased, but not eliminated, by the announcement [on 30 March 1987] that the Israeli Air Force colonel accused of recruiting an American naval intelligence analyst as a spy was resigning as commander of a major Israeli air base.... The Israeli colonel, Aviem Sella, was indicted on charges of espionage by a Federal grand jury, but is not expected to return to the United States."
Allen, Thomas B., and Norman Polmar. Merchants of Treason: America's Secrets for Sale. New York: Delacorte, 1988. New York: Dell, 1988. [pb]
Petersen says Merchants of Treason is "an important survey of spy cases since 1968 that is critical of U.S. counterintelligence as ineffective." Chambers comments that the book "seems to be aimed at the general reader"; it is "well crafted." For Lowenthal, the work is "[m]arred by a somewhat breathless and hyperbolic journalistic prose." According to Kuntzman, IJI&C 6.2, Allen and Polmar present an "excellent compilation of the spy stories that ... made headlines" during the 1980s. The Walker case takes up about half of the book. "There is little different, however, between John D. Barron's Breaking the Ring and ... Merchants of Treason." Bell, Pollard, Harper, Wu-Tai Chin, and Pelton are also covered.
Friedman, Robert I.
"Pollard's Prison Letters: A Portrait of a Fanatic." Washington
Post, 19 Jun. 1988, C2.
Kessler, Ronald. Spy vs. Spy: Stalking Soviet Spies in America. New York: Scribner's, 1988. Spy vs. Spy: The Shocking True Story of the FBI's War Against Soviet Agents in America. New York: Pocket Books, 1988.
According to Evans, IJI&C 3.3, Spy vs. Spy is "easy for laymen to read and entertains." However, the subtitle is misleading because the case of the Koechers, who were Czech spies, takes up "a large part or all of five of the nineteen chapters." Pollard, who spied for Israel, takes up most of Chapter 13. And Chapter 14 belongs to Larry Wu-Tai Chin, a PRC spy. The book "reflects ... many institutional prejudices and parochial viewpoints, especially regarding the CIA." Cram says this is an "interesting and useful compendium" that constitutes a "valuable contribution to counterintelligence literature on the FBI experience."
NameBase comments that "[m]ost of this book recounts the story of Karl F. Koecher and his wife Hana, whom Kessler interviewed in 1987. In 1965 they orchestrated a phony defection from the Czechoslovak Intelligence Service, after which Karl became a naturalized U.S. citizen, worked full-time for the CIA beginning in 1973, and continued as a contract agent after 1977. He ... spent many of his weekends as a 'swinger' at spouse-swapping parties with Hana. By 1982 the FBI's counterintelligence squad was getting suspicious. In 1984 Karl Koecher admitted that he had been spying for the East all along, and in 1986 he and Hana were traded for Natan Sharansky."
Tirschwell, Eric. "Victim
or Villain? Considering the 'Pollard Affair.'" Congress Monthly
56, no. 5 (1989): 17-18. [Petersen]
Henderson, Bernard
R. Pollard: The Spy's Story. New York: Alpha Books, 1989.
Henderson is Pollard's father-in-law.
Blitzer,
Wolf. Territory of Lies, the Exclusive Story of Jonathan Jay Pollard: The American Who Spied on His Country for Israel and How He Was Betrayed. New York: Harper & Row, 1989.
Chambers characterizes Territory of Lies as "an experienced journalist tak[ing] a less than flattering look at a credulous twerp." The reviewer in FA 68.4 (1989) calls Blitzer's prose "occasionally offhand," but adds that the journalist "knows his two countries in detail and is careful not to venture beyond his evidence."
In a review essay, Richard R. Valcourt, "Misplaced Loyalties: The Pollards and 'Friends,'" International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence 3, no. 3 (1990): 425-431, suggests that while the author "understands American politics and the structure of the Washington establishment," he abandons some of his objectivity by championing Anne Pollard's case in seeking early release. "Blitzer concludes that 'the benefits to Israel did not outweigh the costs." This is "an estimable book ... [and the] best and most comprehensive account of the affair to date."As seen by Valcourt, IJI&C
Sinclair, I&NS 6.2, sees the book as "excessively earnest and at times tedious.... Crippled by a lack of substantive information, Blitzer's book is an unconvincing attempt to vindicate an unfascinating subject.... Territory of Lies does manage to give an interesting, though unflattering, view of the Naval Intelligence Service (NIS).... We learn little about the mysterious LAKAM, though its leadership is examined."
Pollard, Carol. "A
Plea that Was No Bargain for a Crime of Conscience." Washington
Post National Weekly Edition, 4-10 Mar. 1991, 25.
Carol Pollard is Jonathan Pollard's sister. Here, she has been given a national forum from which to argue that Pollard did wrong, but....
Kurtz, Howard. "Israel's
Least Favored Spy." Washington Post National Weekly Edition,
13-19 May 1991, 32.
After a period of relative silence, some major Jewish organizations and Israeli Knesset members are lobbying for commutation of Jonathan Pollard's sentence. He is eligible for parole in 1997.
Campbell, Kenneth J.
"Profiles in Treason. Jonathan Jay Pollard: A Corrupted Ideologue."
American Intelligence Journal 14, no. 1 (Autumn-Winter 1993): 55-59.
This is a review of the early life and career of Pollard, with some psychological insights as to motivation. Both Pollards are seen as corrupted by Israeli intelligence money.
Goldenberg, Eliot. The Spy Who Knew Too Much: The Government Plot to Silence Jonathan Pollard. New York: Shapolsky Publishers, 1993.
Surveillant 3.4/5: "Here comes the master spin doctors to convince us that Pollard was right, the nation was wrong."
Hersh, Seymour M. The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy. New York: Random House, 1991. [pb] The Samson Option: Israel, America and the Bomb. London: Faber & Faber, 1992. [pb] The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy. With new Afterword. New York: Vintage, 1993.
According to Surveillant 2.2, the book has, in part, been "vigorously disputed.... [O]ne of the key sources, Israeli exile Ari Ben-Menashe, is a very controversial figure." Similar questions are raised by Bates, NIPQ 8.4, who finds that the book's "sourcing is vague." Bates adds, however, that The Samson Option is "good reading that weaves a plausible tale." On the other hand, Beres, IJI&C 10.1/83/fn. 9, finds The Samson Option to be "altogether lacking in serious scholarly merit."
To Beckman, America, 19 Sep. 1992, The Samson Option is "enlightening and provocative." Nonetheless, Hersh "lacks evidence" for his claim that the Soviet Union was the primary target of Israeli nuclear weapons. Doron, IJI&C 6.1, argues that Hersh has been "unable to establish with complete credibility whether or not Israel actually has nuclear capability."
Quandt, WPNWE, 2-8 Dec. 1991, also finds it "difficult to believe that Israel has developed a so-called 'counterforce' capability against the Soviets [that is, the capability to hit Soviet military targets]. It makes little sense militarily, in contrast to a 'city-busting' capability." In a number of instances, Hersh makes a "questionable use of sources," and further "weakens his impressive narrative by leaving a trail of minor errors." If nothing else, however, Hersh has performed a service by making available more information on a difficult topic.
New York Times.
"Israel Grants Citizenship to American Spy." 22 Nov. 1995, A5
(N).
On 21 November 1995, Israeli Interior Minister Ehud Barak granted Israeli citizenship to Jonathan Pollard.
Marcus, Amy Dockser.
"Israel Embraces Efforts to Free Pollard." Wall Street Journal,
25 Jan. 1996, A18.
Counterintelligence
News and Developments. "Pollard Was an Israeli Spy." Jun. 1998. [http:// www.nacic.gov]
On 11 May 1998, Israel officially acknowledged for the first time "that Jonathan Pollard ... was indeed an Israeli agent. According to an official Israeli statement, Pollard was 'an Israeli spy,' who worked for an intelligence agency called the Scientific Liaison Office.... In return for the acknowledgment, Pollard agreed to drop an Israeli Supreme Court petition that Israel feared would force the government to explain its intelligence-gathering procedures."
Gertz, Bill. "Ex-Mossad
Spy Says He Directed Pollard." Washington Times, 22 Jun. 1997,
A1, A7.
Forward to Pollard 1998
Return to Pollard Table of
Contents
Return to Spy Cases - U.S. Table
of Contents