Life for Pollard Vs 10 years for Montaperto: Anti-Semitism the only
Explanation
Ex DIA Analyst Admits to Passing Secrets to China. Plea deal guarantees no
more than 10 years
.
Source: The Washington Times
J4JP Introduction:
Jonathan Pollard pled guilty and was indicted on one count of passing
classified information with no intent to harm the United States, to Israel,
a major non-NATO ally and he received a life sentence.
Ronald Montaperto, a former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst recently
pled guilty to spying for China throughout his 22-year career in government.
According to a Pentagon official, Montaperto's value to the Chinese included
not only the top secret information that he provided, but also his role in
facilitating Chinese deception of US intelligence. According to a statement
of facts submitted in the case, the information Montaperto supplied to the
Chinese included top secret details of the sale of Chinese military
equipment and missiles to the Middle East. Thanks to a plea deal Montaperto
will be sentenced in September to a term of no more than 10 years --possibly
less.
Jonathan Pollard is currently serving his 21st year of a life sentence with
no end in sight. In comparison to Montaperto and other spies who have
committed far more serious crimes and received far lighter sentences or no
jail time at all, Pollard's life sentence is grossly disproportionate. Every
other possible excuse for the ongoing, 2-decades-long incarceration and
mistreatment of Jonathan Pollard has been eliminated over the passage of
time. Anti-Semitism remains the only explanation.
A detailed account of the Montaperto case, according to the Washington
Times, follows:
Ex DIA Analyst Admits to Passing Secrets to China
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20060623-120347-7268r.htm
By Bill Gertz - Washington Times - June 23, 2006
A former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst has pleaded guilty to
illegally holding classified documents and admitted in a plea agreement to
passing "top secret" information to Chinese intelligence officials.
Ronald N. Montaperto, the former analyst who held a security clearance
as a China specialist at a U.S. Pacific Command research center until 2004,
pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful retention of national defense
information, according to court papers and law officials familiar with the
case, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
"Montaperto admitted to verbally providing [Chinese military] attaches a
considerable amount of information that was useful to them, including
classified information," according to a statement of facts submitted in the
case.
Montaperto told investigators he could not recall specific information
he gave Chinese attaches Col. Yang Qiming, Col. Yu Zhenghe and other Chinese
officers during his 22-year career in government. But the statement said it
included both "secret" and "top secret" data. It also said he had close
unauthorized relationships with the two officers.
The guilty plea was part of an agreement reached Wednesday in U.S.
District Court in Alexandria. The conviction can carry fines of up to
$250,000 and a prison term of up to 10 years. Sentencing is set for Sept. 8.
A Pentagon official said Montaperto's value to China included both the
secrets he shared and his role facilitating Chinese deception of U.S.
intelligence by providing feedback on how those efforts were working.
A senior U.S. intelligence official bluntly stated, "He was a spy for
China."
During questioning by investigators in Hawaii in 2003, where he was dean
of the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, Montaperto said he verbally
gave Col. Yang and Col. Yu both "secret" and "top secret" information, the
statement said.
"He admitted to passing classified information to military attaches who
the FBI determined were Chinese intelligence officials," said a
law-enforcement official involved in the case.
Montaperto, 66, joined the DIA in 1981 and eight years later sought a
post at the CIA that eventually led to suspicions he was a spy for China. An
investigation of his links to Chinese intelligence in 1991 was dropped for
lack of evidence.
He had been part of a DIA program involving authorized contacts with
Chinese embassy officials. However, the statement said Montaperto failed to
report his contacts, as required by security rules.
After leaving DIA, Montaperto continued in government at the National
Defense University and then became the dean of the Pacific Command think
tank until his dismissal in 2004.
A second investigation that led to his guilty plea was started in August
2001 and led to the discovery of classified documents in his Springfield
residence.
Reached by telephone Monday at his home in Morehead City, N.C., before
the plea agreement was finalized, Mr. Montaperto declined to comment.
Investigators from the FBI and Naval Criminal Investigative Service
started a sting operation in July 2003 that involved asking Montaperto to
join a China-related intelligence program that required him to undergo
polygraph testing. Under questioning prior to the test, he made the
admissions about passing secrets to China, the statement said.
The information supplied to the Chinese included top secret details of
the sale of Chinese military equipment and missiles to the Middle East, the
statement said.
The plea agreement requires Montaperto undergo debriefings and forbids
him any contact with foreign agents. "He's already given a lot of
information," one official said.
According to U.S. intelligence officials, Montaperto was among a
number of U.S. intelligence officials who came under suspicion of being
informants following the defection of a Chinese intelligence official in the
late 1980s. The defector revealed that Beijing had successfully developed
five to 10 clandestine sources of information here.
Montaperto also was part of an influential group of pro-China
academics and officials in the U.S. policy and intelligence community who
share similar benign views of China. The group, dubbed the Red Team by
critics, harshly criticizes anyone who raises questions about the threat
posed by Beijing's communist regime. -30-
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