Clinton Sets Deadline on Pollard Review

President Clinton has set a Jan. 11 deadline for law enforcement and national security officials to recommend whether to grant clemency to convicted spy Jonathan Pollard.

While Clinton promised Israel he would take a fresh look at Pollard’s case, U.S. legal and intelligence communities have bitterly opposed releasing him from prison. Nevertheless, officials said Thursday they would review the matter anew.

“I have no reason to expect that there will be major changes in the advice he gets from some quarters, but I think we just have to let that play out,” Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said. The Pentagon has opposed Pollard’s release.

National Security Council spokesman David Leavy said the president “will make a decision in a timely manner.”

Pollard, a former Navy analyst, is serving a life sentence for passing thousands of highly sensitive national security secrets to Israel in 1984 and 1985. Israeli leaders regard him as a patriot who paid a heavy price--13 years in prison so far. Israel has granted Pollard citizenship in hopes of improving chances for his release.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in October sought Pollard’s freedom in a last-minute demand in the Mideast peace agreement at Wye River Plantation on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The issue almost derailed the accord until Clinton promised to take a fresh look at clemency.

Netanyahu’s policy advisor David Bar-Illan said in Israel: “We never comment on such decisions. We hope Pollard will be released. It’s an American decision.”

Pollard attorney Larry Dub cautiously welcomed Clinton’s deadline. “This is the first time the question of clemency for Mr. Pollard is being dealt with inside the White House. It is the first time the White House is actively reviewing the issue.”

Releasing Pollard could ignite a political firestorm in Washington. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and lame duck House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) have urged Clinton to let Pollard’s sentence stand, calling him “one of the most notorious traitors in U.S. history.”

In another measure of strong feelings about the case, CIA Director George J. Tenet told Clinton at the Wye talks that he vehemently opposed Pollard’s release and would have to step down as head of the spy agency if he were freed.

Defense Secretary William S. Cohen and FBI Director Louis J. Freeh did not participate in the Wye summit and were not consulted at the time about Pollard.

White House Counsel Charles F.C. Ruff sent letters Nov. 16 soliciting the views of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, Cohen and Tenet.

The letters further requested that all relevant agencies, including the FBI, Defense Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency, be included in the process.

Clinton has denied two clemency appeals for Pollard, the last in 1996.

U.S. officials estimate Pollard sold Israel enough documents and photographs to fill a room 10 feet by 6 feet by 6 feet.