By Grant Smith
The US Department of Justice has refused to publicly release a memo that outlines why an Israeli entity caught spying on the U.S. would not be investigated further.
Documentation of Israeli nuclear spying 20 years ago
In 1992 the FBI discovered that the Weizmann Institute of Science of Rehovot in Israel penetrated secure U.S. computer systems at the Yuma Proving Ground with the help of a U.S. computer science student. The FBI investigation further documented evidence that Weizmann was engaged in clandestine nuclear weapons research supported by its U.S. fundraising arm, the “American Committee for the Weizmann Institute.”
Yet on May 18, 1993 the Justice Department Office of Intelligence Policy and Review ordered the Assistant FBI director to terminate their Weizmann Institute counterintelligence investigation.
Department of Justice refuses to release the memo
IRmep fought for public release of the Justice Department termination order via a Mandatory Declassification Review. Three days ago, on August 21, 2012, the National Security Division claimed it had declassified the memo, but then refused to publicly release it.
Such a tactical move keeps the memo from being publicly reviewed to see what justification (or lack thereof) existed for calling off the Weizmann investigation. If the memo isn’t classified, it cannot be reviewed for declassification release by the outside Interagency Security Classifications Appeals Panel (ISCAP).
If the entire memo is protected by a number of dubiously applied “privacy” and law enforcement exceptions, the public will never be able to fit the investigation into a larger pattern of suspicious DOJ forbearance into conventional and nuclear arms related smuggling, quashed espionage investigations of AIPAC, clandestine public relations campaigns and Israel lobby attempts to subvert the U.S. electoral process.
Although Mark Bradley–who issued the Justice Department National Security Division MDR decision–asserts it can be appealed to the Department Review Committee , the final decision will likely be made by the DRC’s chairman… Mark Bradley.