WASHINGTON — The FBI searched the offices of the premier pro-Israel advocacy group in the United States for more than six hours Wednesday, took away computer files and issued subpoenas to four senior staffers in a continuing probe of whether a midlevel Pentagon analyst passed classified information to Israel.
Deb Weierman, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Washington field office, said agents arrived at the headquarters of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) near Capitol Hill at about 10 a.m. and stayed until past 4 p.m.
A grand jury has been investigating whether Lawrence Franklin, a career analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency who specializes in Iran, passed a classified Pentagon draft on U.S. Iran policy to two AIPAC officials in the summer of 2003. Two federal law enforcement officials with knowledge of the probe have said prosecutors are trying to determine whether the AIPAC officials shared information from Franklin with Israel. Both law enforcement officials asked not to be named because the investigation is ongoing.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-12-01-fbi-israel-iran_x.htm