U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorney
Eastern District of Virginia
Paul J. McNulty 2100
Jamieson Avenue(703)299-3700
United States Attorney Alexandria,
Virginia 22314
A COPY OF THE INDICTMENT IS ATTACHED
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For further information
contact
Alexandria, Virginia
Sam Dibbley
703-842-4050
August 4, 2005
Paul McNulty, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of
Virginia, announced that Lawrence Anthony Franklin, age 58, of
Kearneysville, WV; Steven J. Rosen, age 63, of Silver Spring, MD; and Keith
Weissman, age 53, of Bethesda, MD, were indicted today by a federal grand
jury sitting in Alexandria with Conspiracy to Communicate National Defense
Information to Persons Not Entitled to Receive It. The indictment alleges
that beginning in April of 1999, Rosen, the Director of Foreign Policy
Issues for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in
Washington, D.C., and Weissman, the Senior Middle East Analyst in the
Foreign Policy Issues Department at AIPAC, in an effort to influence persons
within and outside the United States government, would use their contacts
within the United States government, including Franklin, with whom they
first met in February 2003, to gather sensitive United States government
information, including classified information relating to the national
defense, for subsequent unlawful communication, delivery and transmission to
persons not entitled to receive it, including members of the media and
foreign government officials.
Franklin was also charged with three counts of Communication of
National Defense Information to Persons Not Entitled to Receive It. In one
of those counts, Rosen was charged with aiding and abetting him in the
unlawful disclosure.
Finally, Franklin was charged with conspiring with persons known and unknown to the grand jury to communicate classified information to an agent or representative of a foreign government. It is alleged that Franklin would use his position as a desk officer in the Office of the Secretary of Defense to gather information, classified as affecting the security of the United States, for subsequent unlawful communication to a foreign official.
Mr. McNulty stated: "When it comes to classified information, there is a clear line in the law. Today's charges are about crossing that line. Those entrusted with safeguarding our nation's secrets must remain faithful to that trust. Those not authorized to receive classified information must resist the temptation to acquire it, no matter what their motivation may be."
This case was investigated by the FBI, and is being prosecuted by
Assistant United States Attorneys Kevin DiGregory and Neil Hammerstrom, and
Thomas Reilly, Trial Attorney, the Counterespionage Section of the Criminal
Division of the United States Department of Justice.
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