New CIA Chief's Record On Pollard

Arutz7 News - August 11, 2004

The man nominated by US President George Bush on Tuesday (08/10/04) to be the new head of America's Central Intelligence Agency, Representative Porter Goss (R-Fl.), has been a fierce opponent of the release of imprisoned Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard.

Goss, a former CIA operative and chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, was among the authors of an unprecedented 1999 proposed House Resolution [specifying that "Jonathan Jay Pollard should serve his full sentence of life imprisonment and should not receive pardon, reprieve, or any other form of executive clemency from the President of the United States."

At the time, Goss was quoted as saying, "He is one of the worst traitors in our nation's history. There is absolutely no reason to let this guy out of jail. None."

The "Pollard Bill" is currently still in committee.

[J4JP Correction: There is no Pollard Bill pending. The reference is not to a legislative bill, but to a 1999 'Sense of the Senate' letter to then President Bill Clinton signed by 60 Senators, enjoining Clinton not to free Jonathan Pollard. As a congressman, Goss was not eligible to sign, but he did make strong public statements opposing Jonathan's release.]

Jonathan Pollard, declared a citizen of Israel and formally recognized as an agent of the state, is in his nineteenth year of a life sentence in Butner, North Carolina on charges of espionage on behalf of Israel. A civilian American Naval intelligence analyst in the mid-1980s, Pollard discovered that information vital to Israel's security was being deliberately withheld by certain elements within the US national security establishment and he acted to transfer that data to Israel.

For a response to the claim that Pollard is a "traitor", please see Israel National News Article: Jonathan Pollard is Not a Traitor by Justice4JP - August 10, 2004.