Israel has denied knowledge of the case, said to be connected to that of
former U.S. Navy analyst Jonathan Pollard. At a hearing on Tuesday, the FBI
said Kadish confessed to the charges.
"It's a fascinating case of another agent in place, another sleeper,
with the very same handler," former federal prosecutor Joseph diGenova, who
handled the Pollard case in the mid-1980s, told the Washington Post. "We
always suspected there were other people. His tradecraft was apparently
better than Pollard's."
Federal prosecutors, in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in New
York, said Kadish, provided Israel with between 50 and 100 classified
documents from 1980 through 1985. Kadish, who has not been charged with
espionage, was said to have taken classified documents to his New Jersey
home and then allowed an unidentified Israeli diplomat, identified as CC-1,
to photograph the material. Later, the diplomat was identified as Yosef
Yagur.
"I would simply say, just as a general matter that 20-plus years ago
during the Pollard case, we noted that this was not the kind of behavior we
would expect from friends and allies, and that would remain the case today,"
State Department deputy spokesman, Tom Casey said.
"One of the classified documents that Kadish provided to CC-1 contained
information concerning nuclear weaponry and was classified as 'Restricted
Data,' a specific designation by the U.S. Department of Energy, because the
document contained atomic-related information," the Justice Department said.
Kadish, who was not believed to have been paid for his services, was
accused of relaying to the Israeli diplomat information of an F-15 fighter
jet sold to "another country," the department said. Officials said the
reference was to Saudi Arabia, the first Arab state to have received the
advanced fighter.
Another weapons system document allegedly taken by Kadish and
photographed by the Israeli diplomat was that of the U.S.-origin Patriot
missile defense system. The diplomat was described as a science consul at
the Israeli Consulate General in New York and a former employee of the
state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries.
The Justice Department did not say how the FBI learned of Kadish's
activities more than 18 years after his retirement from the U.S. Army. But
officials said the FBI interviewed Kadish in early 2008 amid his continued
contact with the Israeli diplomat.
Kadish was said to have ended his services for Israel in late 1985, days
after the FBI arrest of Pollard, also accused of relaying classified
information to Israel. The Israeli diplomat, said to have also dealt with
Pollard, fled the United States after the arrest and never returned. The CIA
has long alleged that Israel had handled agents other than Pollard in the
United States.
"On March 20, 2008, Kadish and CC-1 had a telephone conversation, during
which CC-1 instructed Kadish to lie to federal law enforcement officials,"
the department said. "The following day, during an interview with the FBI,
Kadish denied having had the telephone conversation with CC-1."
Kadish, released on $300,000 bail, has been charged with four counts,
including conspiracy to disclose national defense documents to Israel and
conspiracy to act as an Israeli agent. Officials said the FBI and the U.S.
Army cooperated in the investigation.