March 29, 2024
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Pollard’s Disproportionate Sentence

I would like to respond to U.S. Army, retired, Col. Carl A. Singer’s letter to the editor regarding Jonathan Pollard (“Pollard Is No Hero,” January 7, 2021). In his own words, the author claims that Jews in the U.S. intelligence services were suspected of dual loyalties as a result of Pollard’s espionage. Fair enough. I, as well as most, thank you for your service to our country. The truth be told, Pollard secreted U.S. intelligence concerning Egyptian troop movements to the Israeli government (Ehud Barak was one of his handlers), vital information that was kept from the Israelis. In fact, according to Dennis Ross’s latest book, “Doomed to Succeed,” in those days, intelligence reports between the U.S. and Israel went one way only. Be that as it may, just as the justice today has been corrupted and perverted, so too during the Pollard trial. Caspar Weinberger, the 

defense secretary during the Reagan administration, felt that Israel was a thorn irritating the world and would not accept a two-bit Naval intelligence officer getting the best of him. He was charged with espionage (not treason) and was given a sentence disproportionate to the crime. Other than the Rosenbergs, no spy was ever given that length of sentence, nor did any of his information lead to the deaths of U.S. spies around the world as did others’. A hero? Not exactly. But someone who bucked the shadowy world of intelligence.

Herbert Burack
Teaneck
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