BEFORE Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning brought data theft into the digital age, there was Jonathan Pollard. Mr Pollard was a naval intelligence analyst who in 1987 was convicted of supplying vast quantities of secret information to Israel. According to one report, the physical documents he stole would fill a room six feet by six feet by ten feet (about 5 cubic metres). So brazen was his theft that security guards held the doors for him as he moved papers to his car.
Since his arrest in 1985, Mr Pollard has been held in federal prison on a life sentence for spying. By the 1990s he had became a cause célèbre for Israeli supporters, who argue that he was not a traitor, but a patriot helping a trusted ally. At various times the possibility of clemency and early release seemed on the horizon, only to be withdrawn. Now Mr Pollard has been granted parole; in November he will be freed. The decision, announced on July 28th, came two weeks after America and five other world powers struck a deal with Iran fiercely opposed by Israel. The result may be to revive awkward questions about the...Continue reading
Source: United States http://ift.tt/1Isr25O
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