Convicted spy Pollard to be freed
He was arrested in 1985 for selling U.S. secrets to Israel.
Jonathan Pollard, the Navy intelligence analyst whose 1985 arrest for selling secrets to Israel set off a sensational spy saga, is scheduled to be released from federal prison next week, marking the end of a three-decade diplomatic burr in the relationship between the two allies.
Pollard, 61, had been serving a life sentence, but was granted parole this year under sentencing rules in place at the time of his prosecution that made him presumptively eligible for release this month.
Although the decision from the U.S. Parole Commission came around the same time as a sharp disagreement between the U.S. and the Israeli governments over a nuclear deal with Iran, officials from both countries have denied the release was in any way tied to that arrangement, or was intended as a concession to Israel.
The release, scheduled for next Friday, caps a case that divided public opinion in Israel and America and has been a periodic source of legal and diplomatic wrangling between the two countries.
“In terms of the quantity of stuff he gave away and the classification and the damage to relations, it certainly was a significant case,” said Jeffrey Richelson, a senior fellow at the National Security Archive at George Washington University who has written on Pollard.
Pollard’s plans aren’t immediately clear. His lawyers said after the parole decision in July that he had lined up a job and housing in the New York area. His lawyers have said that he will be required to remain in the United States for five years, though they called on President Barack Obama to grant him clemency and permit him to move to Israel immediately.
But the White House quickly shot down that prospect, saying Pollard had committed “very serious crimes” and the president had “no intention of altering the terms of Mr. Pollard’s parole.”
One of his lawyers, Eliot Lauer, did not respond this week to questions about Pollard’s future and said his client would not be available for an interview.
The real question, said Washington national security lawyer Mark Zaid, is “not about releasing him, because he’s going to be released. He’s served his time and his sentence is up. ... It’s more about, ‘OK, where does he go?’”
The case attracted international attention when Pollard was arrested on Nov. 21, 1985, after trying unsuccessfully to gain asylum at the Israeli Embassy in Washington. He pleaded guilty a year later to conspiracy to commit espionage.