Former DOD analyst, pro-Israel lobbyists plead not guilty to conspiracy charges News
Former DOD analyst, pro-Israel lobbyists plead not guilty to conspiracy charges

[JURIST] A US Department of Defense analyst and two former officials of the pro-Israel lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) [advocacy website] pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified national defense information. Analyst Lawrence Franklin, who worked on the Pentagon's Iran desk at the time of the allegations, has been charged [JURIST report] with giving former AIPAC officials, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, top secret information about potential attacks on US forces in Iraq and with disclosing classified information to a diplomat in order to advance his personal agenda. Under the same indictment [PDF], Rosen and Weissman are charged [JURIST report] with disclosing the information to the media and several foreign government officials. The trial is set for January 3, 2006. Reuters has more.