MORl DociD 616667 QA ltiSTORlCAL REVItw PROGRAM RB EASE IN FUU _ SJJPT n'ILE BOOK REVIEW 93 The Territory of Lies · REVIEWER Bruce Riedel VOLUME · 33 ISSUE Fall YEAR 1989 MORI Doc D 616667 Tlu 'tlmitDrfl of L'- The E rcl ce Sttm of Jonathan Jau Pollard Bv Wolf Blitzer Harper It Row New y ori 1089 886 pp Wolf Blitzer's book on the Pollard affair is the 6nt in-depth ent of thts cue in the DUblfo anma by an Israeli Blitzer the Washington correspondent of Tlui j6'f'U$ Jlem PO# has a strona track record of l 'llloelle nt contacts in both Wuhinaton and Jftl 1 11Mlem His accoont is ltkolv to be the definitive lstat li vernon of the Pollard espionage case for some time Blitzer is more than an observer of the affair as he was selected by Jonathan PoUatd u bla principal lnt«viewer and the main dianne for Pollard to communioate his own views to American and Lmeli audllmces In the book Blitzer IU8BeSt5 that he fean that the prosecution uSed hbn to bolD let up Pollard as tant in order to buttxess the cue for a tiff sentencinc The book adds imoorta nt J 6W detalk not previOtUly available in ovett literature on the Israeli Lalcam orp ntzat ion that ran the Pollard operation Labm operated as aclcntt rMeUoh orpn of the Ministry of Defense A ccordiq to Blitzer the Lishb Llklishrey MadA or Of e of Scientific Liaison was created in the 1980a early on it tnade its ma t'1c by cootdinatinc the that stole tbl l blut lpJ ints for the Minge S hc plane in Swltz erhu KI in 1988 ThoJc blueprints at tbe bam for the desitm of the n eli Jair 6dlt er in t be 1970s Lakun's a well-kept secret however until tbe Pollard affair Blltt er rev icws in d8tatl Pollard's life and the path that led hl m to -It out fsraetl inteUl JtmOO and offer his setvi ces The book records the operational details of Po U r l's handlina parttcululy the role p ayed bv Rafi Eitan the bead of Laltam who is niclmamed the atinbr'' in Israel Eftan who tal in the of Nazt war erlminal Adolf Eichman in Arsentina was already famous in Israeli espionaae literature But his rude and ruthless bandlina of the Pollard Cll flfl should undarmine his as a crafty spymaaer He a gparent y never ma de any IIL'll'ious oontinaancv phmniq to Sl irit Pollard out of the US The book's mDJt im portmt contribution ta to refute the bn elf Government's oBlcial ' ptJiitton that the Pollard operation wa s a roaue mimon IJ8WI' lll DCtioned at the bieheA level of the ImaelilnbJIIltJenoe community let alone the IIOVUDDlenl Blttter correctly nol' ao that tho maanitude of the information Pollard provided and the Y infrastructure to analyze it makes tuOh claims ridiculou Onlv the MUituv lnt Branoh AJ nan of the rael Defense Fot'OE S IDF would have bad the ClliJilbilitv to absorb assess and uae tollard'r tmormous and qhly technieal take Many wit bin Aman's leadenrhiv and rest of the IDF Ill weU as tenlor ministers ln the JOVCmrtl01'lt had to aware that some JdQd of clandestine oPI lf8tion WWl under way ln Wasb ingwn Blitzer's sotlroi IS alto Ulustrate how Eitan had to ba ve aained the apnrovtti of the IDF IUcb command in order to use Israeb Alr Force hero Aviem Sella to initiate the operation According to Pollard · · The t'vPe of guidance I received suuested a hishlY O'OOI'dinated effort between the Navy A nnY and· Air Force intellireuce setVtces At the end of each month I wu d lell au Jy detailed Jist of materlal which was needed bv the various otaanizati m4 that tnoluded llll nation of why the infonnation omctallv t J'an$ fened dtcl not satisfy t beir requ A Jt h ou n the acquiaition lila appeared to rs ' ' MORI ociD 616667 have been tubmltted by each service sef UllteJy Iince diW milar r and formlllb were used by the three orpnimtfons there was always one prioritized list which hAd evidently been a llr88d uDOO by the respeotjve mi1itary ob efs of intelligence and bore their combined Jeal While it is possible that the MOI Md considercKI thfs aifair to have been •·unauthorized because they were evidently never a pa rty to It the tame cannot be said of the General Staff which wa intfmatiJiy involved with tdentifvlng which type of seienHfle a nd teebnico ltntelligen e was to he the obJect of my acttvitv The timing of Blitzer's book i5 mterestins More lll'Ki more braelis have become c turbed r Yvttt their 8ovemment's handlina of the Pollard affair and the book I sure to fncl'ell8 the dilconttmt To JOtl'le Israelis rticularlv those on the ript Po1lard is u a hetoic flcure who was ncri i ed bv then Prime Minister Shimon Pereti on the altar of Israeli-US political expediency Blitzer sympathizes with the notion that the Israeli Government betrayed Pollard's trust althoush be allege that 1 1 has douhl« Po11ard's ry to $3 000 ll month Jince hiB arre st to provide an annuitY when and If be u paroled The hook al110 seeks to address the much-debated issue ot a Mr X a second Israeli spy hi1h in the US Government who assisted in Pollard's tasking Blitzer repeats the wellestablished notion that Pollard wa exceptionally well tuked to secure bfshly technical 1 lll terial in aeneral and also to obtain spec tific intelu•ence documenb ed in tbe US nmnbcrlng system BUtzer doe5 not reveal who Mr X may haYe been but he ames that if he cai ted be vrobabty bu slnce'been qntetly recalled to l nel to avoid dhlcovery Regudlew of what happened to Mr X the book raises dlsturbtD8 c tuestiODI about the Israeli intelli1m1oe community If Lakam oould ooerate in mad secretly for the last 20 yean who lmowt what bas JUooeeded it u the truly clandestine coDootion ann oE ltrael In the West Is there any teUOG to believe that Lakam would not be replaced by another inteltfpnce oraanization wfth no ti• to the Massad or Aman to ca nv out seQSftive operations BRocE R umm 78