Is Jonathan Pollard being treated fairly?
By Denise Noe
When I was working on the Jonathan Pollard case for Court TV's Crime
Library, I was struck by a couple of remarkable aspects of it. The
first was the apparent slipshod irresponsibility of the government in
having allowed someone with Pollard's personality around highly
classified material. Pollard had a long history of spinning tall tales
to impress just about anyone who would listen. As a young man, he
loved to regale his peers with (then entirely fictional) stories about
how he was a spy or had engaged in some sort of dangerous and dramatic
activity.
He continued this pattern of bragging about all kinds of derring-do
when he worked as an Intelligence Research Specialist in Naval
Intelligence. His co-workers even joked about his tendency to tell
fanciful tales. However, they did not try to eject him from his
position for this reason. Should the government trust its major
secrets to people who habitually blur the line between reality and
fantasy?
Another thing that struck me about the case - and that I know troubles
many - is the issue of fairness.
Pollard spied for Israel, one of America's closest allies. Although he
has often been called a "traitor," he never "gave aid or comfort to an
enemy" and that is how the United States Constitution defines treason.
No one else who spied for an ally has ever received more than fourteen
years in prison, yet Pollard was sentenced to life despite the fact
that he began cooperating with American authorities shortly after his
crimes were discovered and despite the fact that, as a result of his
cooperation, the prosecution did not even ask for a life sentence.
However, there are valid reasons to view his crimes harshly as top
government officials have stated that he did much harm to American
security. Intelligence officials have opposed clemency for this spy.
Was the severity the result of racial or religious bias? The American
Jewish Congress investigated his case in 1988 and concluded that the
sentence did not reflect any anti-Semitism.
That still leaves open the question of whether or not he is being
treated fairly. My article is at
http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/spies/pollard/1.html.
Readers - what do you think? Does Jonathan Pollard deserve the
sentence he got?
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