Wednesday, December 23, 2009
The FBI has egg on its face over this. At the very least, a Google search would have quickly uncovered, as one person in this Politico report is quoted as saying, that Leibowitz was a "character" (or suffered a lack thereof): FBI leaker should have raised flags
...Last week, an Israeli-American lawyer, Shamai Leibowitz, pled guilty to leaking to an unidentified blogger five classified documents Leibowitz obtained while working as a Hebrew translator for the FBI from January through August of this year. Court records also said that four documents classified as "secret" were found in an August search of Leibowitz's Silver Spring home. Leibowitz held a top-secret clearance, the filings said.
But Leibowitz, 39, seems an unlikely candidate for a top U.S. security clearance. After news of the charges against him broke, it took reporters only minutes to track down news articles reporting that he was fired from a legal clerkship in Israel and was publicly chastised by a court there for leaking a judge's private comments.
Experts were also puzzled that someone with a long history of public activism on polarizing issues would wind up working for U.S. law enforcement in a classified environment and be granted access to sensitive information.
A quick Google search reveals Leibowitz's public life as an activist and also the frequent controversy that his views incited. Born into a famous family of Israeli Torah scholars and intellectuals, Leibowitz was a Yeshiva student whose experience as a tank commander in the Israeli military during the second intifada horrified him. After that, he wrote and advocated frequently in articles, blogs and public appearances for Israeli soldiers to refuse to serve in the West Bank and Gaza, and at one time supported U.S. divestment from Israel, a view that he later changed.
"I think whoever was doing the vetting on him didn't do their job," Cohen said. "This guy sounds like just a real loose cannon on the deck. How could he slip through?"
Cohen said Leibowitz's guilty plea shows that the FBI should have taken note of reports in 1999 in the Israeli newspapers Ha'aretz and the Jerusalem Post that Leibowitz was publicly rebuked by an Israeli Supreme Court justice for disclosing another judge's comments.
"What he did and what he was reported to have done then are exactly the same. He violated confidences because he thought he knew more, he knew better," Cohen said...[more]
That about sounds like the profile, doesn't it? Everyone thinks they know better.
[Previous: Anti-Israel Israeli Shamai Leibowitz Sentenced to Jail]
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Embarrassment: How Did Shamai Leibowitz Get Security Clearance?.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.solomonia.com/cgi-bin/mt4/mt-renamedtb.cgi/17245
15 Comments
Leave a comment to: Embarrassment: How Did Shamai Leibowitz Get Security Clearance?
Comment Info and Policy:
1) You must have Javascript enabled in your browser in order to comment (blame the spammers). If you don't know what that is, you're probably fine.
2) HTML is on, so basic html should work. Raw links will be made auto-clickable, too, so even if you don't know html you can just paste in the link and it should work fine. Keep the "http://" in it.
3) Comments are generally unmoderated, which means I don't necessarily agree with the tone and tenor of everything posted. In fact, sometimes people post things they don't really mean just to make other people look bad. The internet is an anonymous place for the most part. That said...
4) I welcome you to post here. I'd love to have your input, agree, disagree or just offer a different data point, really. If I didn't want any participation, I'd turn off comments. Be aware, however, that this blog and the comments section exist for my entertainment. Therefore, I reserve ALL RIGHTS here, including the right to remove any or all comments on nothing more than a whim. Please don't even bother complaining. I'm the one providing the space and the free news and thought buffet. I don't owe anyone anything.
Anyone who posts here will be treated as my guest. That means I'm happy to be polite as a default, but if anyone is rude to the host they'll be unceremoniously shown the door.
It may pay to recall a famous line from the Tom Selleck magnum opus, Mr. Baseball: "Jack-san, you want Yoji's advice about the babes, you come to Yoji with respect."
5) Enjoy your stay!
, p.44
Probably hamass wants this scumbag to be one of the 1,000 released in exchange for Gilad Shalit.
You will always have security breaches in a open democratic system being assaulted by Leftist ideologues.
McCarthy was a hero.
But Leibowitz, 39, seems an unlikely candidate for a top U.S. security clearance.
Maybe they needed another Jewish traitor?
Leibowitz is quite accomplished. Not many people manage to be traitors to two countries (and two "Peoples").
I will go out on a limb here and suggest that it was probably the very history of his anti-Israeli activism which recommended him to whoever recruited him to work for the FBI. They probably thought that such a person could be trusted to translate the documents from Hebrew accurately (tradutore- traditore complex). They did not think that the very same ideology that led him to do what he did in Israel would also dictate his decisions in the US.
So I suppose in the FBI there is a vacancy for a translator from Hebrew to fill his place? Do you think they will consider an Israeli-Canadian Jewish Hebrew translator for the job?
Sorry, Canadians are dangerous. Can't trust those people.
I think your analysis has merit.
Jews going to jail doesn't usually cause me to nod my head approvingly, but this year there have been a few that do. I have in mind two Washington area residents, Leibowitz and Stewart Nosette, and the gonif from New York City Madoff. Each a different story to be sure, but each richly deserves to be behind bars.
Noga, congratulations for such a dead on hit with "trattudore traditore." Had to look it up, and when I did, I saw how very apt it was here. Maybe as good as "Pecavi" was in context.
As for your speculation that Leibowitz's anti-Israel activism (which he probably imagines is really "pro-Israel") actually recommending him for the job and security clearance, it occurred to me too. I wouldn't bet even money on it, though.
Noga,
his anti-Israeli activism
It was something I had considered but did not think it reasonable given that the FBI had refused Jews as translators in 2003 at the height of the language crunch in intelligence because of Muslim worker sensitivities.
Says a lot about the organization that it only looks to traitorous types and not the integrity of the individual for employment purposes.
"the FBI had refused Jews as translators in 2003 at the height of the language crunch in intelligence because of Muslim worker sensitivities."
Can you expand on this? I am not familiar with the story.
___________
"Says a lot about the organization that it only looks to traitorous types and not the integrity of the individual for employment purposes."
It was only a conjecture on my part. We don't know what credentials actually played a role in his employment.
Dafka - FBI: Jews need not apply for Arabic linguist Jobs
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1825137
WND Exclusive WAR ON TERROR
FBI: Jews need not applyfor Arabic linguist jobs
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35018
Arabic at the FBI: Lost in Translation
http://www.thegantelope.com/archives/000028.html
Jews Need Not Apply to Fight Terror
http://97.74.65.51/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=15306
Thanks, Eddie.
Eddie beat me to the draw. :-)
Just to round this off, there are a few ex-Syrian Jews (those the US managed to persuade Hafez al Assad to let go) living in the US and fluent in Arabic. Some of them offered their services but were refused.
Eddie,
From the bottom link:
Instead, the FBI hired dozens of Arab-American Muslims as translators.
Now with hindsight one can see how stupid this was, what with taquiya etc.
Born in the US ......
They make mistakes and people pay with their life.