Pentagon Analyst Faces New Charges

A Pentagon analyst previously charged with leaking top-secret information to a pro-Israel group was charged Tuesday with taking classified U.S. documents out of the Washington area to his West Virginia residence.

Lawrence A. Franklin, 58, was not authorized to take such documents to his home in Kearneysville, according to the federal charge issued along with an arrest warrant by U.S. Atty. Thomas E. Johnston.

Franklin surrendered to FBI agents and appeared before a federal magistrate in Martinsburg, W.Va. He was released Tuesday on $50,000 bond and faces a June 9 hearing on the latest charge.

Franklin’s lawyer, Plato Cacheris, was not immediately available for comment after the court appearance.

The FBI found 83 classified documents in Franklin’s home in the eastern panhandle town in June 2004, court filings said. Investigators say 38 documents were classified top-secret and 37 others secret.

Tuesday’s charge of unlawfully possessing classified federal defense documents focuses on six documents written between October 2003 and June 2004. Four were CIA documents: three about Al Qaeda and one involving Osama bin Laden. Two were top-secret and the rest were secret.

Franklin was authorized to carry such documents within the Washington-Baltimore-Richmond area but not to West Virginia, officials said.

A specialist in Iranian and Middle Eastern affairs, Franklin had consented to the June 2004 search of his home while the FBI investigated whether Israel had improperly obtained U.S. secrets. He lost his clearance to review top-secret documents that month.

He was charged May 3 with providing top-secret information about potential attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq to two executives of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the influential pro-Israel lobbying group.

If convicted of the charge filed Tuesday, Franklin could get up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The earlier charge carries a similar prison term.

During a May 4 hearing on the previous charge, Franklin posted $100,000 bail. He has a preliminary hearing Friday on that charge.