Spy released:
Jonathan Pollard, the former Navy intelligence analyst who spied for Israel, is freed after 30 years behind bars.
NEW YORK — Jonathan Pollard was released from prison Friday after 30 years behind bars for spying for Israel, and his lawyers immediately went to court to challenge tough parole conditions seemingly designed to ensure he doesn’t spill any secrets he might have left.
The 61- year- old former Navy intelligence analyst was set free before daybreak from a mediumsecurity federal prison in Butner, N. C., after being paroled from a life sentence that had turned him into a continual source of tension between the U. S. and Israel.
Under the rules of his release, he must wear a GPS unit to transmit his whereabouts at all times, allow the installation of monitoring equipment on any computers he uses at work or at home, and agree to periodic, unannounced inspections of those machines.
“The notion that, having fought for and finally obtained his release after serving 30 years in prison, Mr. Pollard will now disclose stale, 30- year- old information to anyone is preposterous,” his lawyers, Eliot Lauer and Jacques Semmelman, said in a statement.
Hours after his release from prison, Pollard checked in with probation officers at a federal courthouse in New York City, then emerged into a throng of journalists.
“I can’t comment on anything today,” he said with his wife, Esther, on his arm.
Despite parole requirements that he remain in the U. S. for at least five years, Pollard has expressed a desire to renounce his American citizenship and move to Israel, where he is seen by some as a national hero. But the White House opposes the request.
U. S. intelligence officials have long argued that Pollard, who pleaded guilty in 1986 to conspiracy to commit espionage, did severe damage to the United States during the Cold War by giving away an enormous volume of military intelligence secrets that some suspect wound up in Soviet hands.
His defenders have contended that his punishment was overly harsh for helping a close U. S. ally.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu applauded Pollard’s freedom, saying in a statement: “As someone who raised Jonathan’s case for years with successive American presidents, I had long hoped this day would come.”
For now, Pollard will live New York, where his lawyers said he landed a job in the finance department of an investment firm.