Engineer Admits Divulging Secrets to Israel, Papers Say

A civilian engineer working at an Army command facility near Detroit has admitted divulging classified military information to Israeli officials over the last 10 years, and his home has been searched under a warrant that cited probable violation of espionage statutes, according to federal court papers.

The engineer, David A. Tenenbaum of Southfield, Mich., has not been arrested or charged with any crime but he remains under investigation, FBI officials said Wednesday.

He told Pentagon investigators that he had “inadvertently” provided Israeli arms purchasing officials with secret data on the performance of the Patriot missile defense system, the Bradley fighting vehicle, new forms of ceramic armor and other weapons systems, according to an FBI affidavit filed to obtain a search warrant of Tenenbaum’s home.

Tenenbaum’s admission came during a security clearance interview last Thursday, and the search was conducted over the weekend.

Tenenbaum had contact with Israelis because his command was involved with production of arms sold to foreign governments. In Israel, the government denied any wrongdoing in dealings with him.

“There has been no improper contact between Tenenbaum and any official body or institution of the state of Israel,” David Bar Illan, chief spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Wednesday.

The Israeli Defense Ministry also issued a brief statement that said Israelis in the United States “are under the most explicit and categorical instructions to decline any and all offers of classified U.S. information, other than that which is transmitted to them in an orderly fashion through . . . authorized official channels.”

Israeli security officials said those instructions dated from the aftermath of U.S. Navy analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard’s 1986 conviction and life sentence for espionage on behalf of Israel, an episode that shook Washington’s relations with Israel.

Tenenbaum is a mechanical engineer at the headquarters of the U.S. Army Tank Automotive and Armaments Command in Warren, Mich. With a force of 10,000 people worldwide, the command oversees the development, purchase and support of tanks, trucks and other Army vehicles and weapons systems.

Foreign officials are routinely stationed at TACOM and other military commands involved in the production of equipment sold to foreign governments, Army officials said Wednesday.

“These liaisons are part of our foreign military sales effort,” said TACOM spokesman Eric Emerton. “They are our point of contact with foreign governments.”

Tenenbaum told federal investigators that he had given “non-releasable classified information to every Israeli liaison officer assigned to TACOM over the last 10 years,” according to the FBI affidavit. Tenenbaum also said that he had given secret information to a high-ranking Israeli Defense Ministry official.