Two ex-AIPAC lobbyists charged with divulging defense secrets win court ruling

[IndianaGreen]

AP story as reported by Haaretz.

Last update - 02:41 25/02/2009

Two ex-AIPAC lobbyists charged with divulging defense secrets win court ruling

By The Associated Press

A federal appeals court in Virginia says two men accused of illegally disclosing national defense secrets can use some classified information at their trial.

Tuesday's ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirms a decision by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III.

Steven Rosen and Keith Wiessman are former lobbyists with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. They were charged in 2005 with conspiring to obtain classified reports on U.S. policy and sharing them with reporters and foreign diplomats.

A three-judge panel of the Richmond-based appeals court said last year's ruling by Ellis sought to protect the defendants' rights while also preventing the unnecessary disclosure of classified information.

The indictment alleges that Rosen and Weissman conspired to obtain, and then disclosed, classified reports on issues relevant to American policy, including the al-Qaida terror network; the bombing of the Khobar Towers dormitory in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 U.S. Air Force personnel; and U.S. policy in Iran.

The trial, postponed at least nine times as the defense and prosecutors wrangled over the handling of classified information and other pretrial issues, is now set for April 21 in federal court in Alexandria.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1066802.html

[Idealism]

1. Why do AIPAC lobbyists receive classified reports in the first place?

[LeftishBrit]

2. They're accused here of 'conspiring to obtain them' which suggests that they weren't supposed to

It does sound as though someone should have been more careful; but who am I to talk? - in Britain it seems to be standard practice these days for officials to leave classified documents and confidential data behind them when exiting from public transport!