Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May-June 2007, page 11

Special Report

Trial of Former AIPAC Staffers Scheduled To Begin June 4

By Andrew I. Killgore

According to the March 15 Washington Post, the often-postponed trial of two former top officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)—foreign policy director Steve Rosen and Iran specialist Keith Weissman—is scheduled to begin June 4 in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, just across the Potomac River from Washington, DC. Rosen and Weissman were indicted on Aug. 4, 2005 and charged with disclosing “codeword protected intelligence” to the Israeli Embassy in Washington and to members of the media.

Reports in the March 9 and March 30 editions of the Jewish newspaper Forward gave details about the trial, as well as pre-trial legal maneuverings. The lack of Jewish cooperation with the two former AIPACers’ defense has been called “abandonment.”

Rosen has sought to involve in his defense participants in a secret meeting arranged by Rosen three years ago, but so far all have refused to cooperate. In that meeting, top Middle East peace envoy Gen. Anthony Zinni discussed the situation in the Middle East and attempts by the Bush administration to promote the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Zinni “spoke very freely,” according to the prosecutor’s account of the meeting. Defense lawyers hope to demonstrate, with the cooperation of those attending, that meetings between administration officials and Jewish representatives were commonplace and that highly classified intelligence was frequently shared.

Jess Hordes, head of the Washington office of the Anti-Defamation League, and Dan Mariaschin, executive vice president of B’nai B’rith International, have refused to cooperate with the defense. A third Jewish representative, whose identity could not be confirmed, is also refusing to testify for the defense.

The “abandonment” of AIPAC staffers only goes so far. After all, AIPAC is willing to pay Rosen and Weissman’s legal fees if the two sign an agreement not to sue the organization in the future. But the former staffers want to preserve their right to sue AIPAC.

The way Rosen and Weissman’s trial will be conducted has yet to be determined. Defense lawyers and media organizations, including The Washington Post, object to what they say is a government effort to “close” the trial by having jurors hear testimony through headphones and receive documents without allowing the public to hear or see the evidence. The government argues that it needs to protect the secrecy of the information used as evidence in the case.

Another matter to be decided is which high-profile witness to call. The defense wants to call Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, and senior officials from the State Department, National Security Council and the Pentagon. The purpose would be to show that the government routinely passed information to AIPAC and that the practice was seen by all sides as authorized and acceptable.

Andrew I. Killgore is publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.