Pro-Israel Lobby Group Says FBI Raided Offices

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee said Wednesday that FBI agents searched files and served subpoenas at its offices as part of an investigation into whether Israel improperly obtained classified U.S. information on Iran.

The committee, a major pro-Israel lobbying organization, disclosed the raid in a statement that said it was cooperating “in order to get these false and baseless allegations put to rest fully and swiftly.”

“As we have said from the beginning, AIPAC has done nothing wrong,” the statement said.

The FBI previously searched its offices on Aug. 27.

Agents also have interviewed two of its employees about whether a Defense Department analyst, Larry Franklin, gave them classified information that wound up with Israel.

Franklin works on Iran and Middle East issues in the office of policy undersecretary Douglas J. Feith. Franklin has not commented on the probe and has not been charged.

In its statement, the committee said FBI agents requested and received files Wednesday related to those two employees -- Steve Rosen, the director of research, and Keith Weissman, deputy director of foreign policy issues. The FBI has copied computer hard drives and files from both men.

The committee said subpoenas were served by the FBI requiring four of its senior officials to testify before the federal grand jury investigating the case.

A source familiar with the inquiry identified the four as executive director Howard Kohr, managing director Richard Fishman, communications director Renee Rothstein and research director Rafi Danziger.

The FBI and Justice Department declined to comment.

The Israeli government has denied spying on the United States, saying that meetings between U.S. and Israeli officials are common and that the two countries share many secrets. Iran, particularly any assessments of its nuclear ambitions, is of critical importance to Israel’s security interests.

Israel said it had imposed a ban on espionage in the United States since the scandal over Jonathan Jay Pollard, an American convicted in 1986 of spying for Israel.

The investigation of the committee dates to the early days of the Bush administration.

It is being handled by U.S. Atty. Paul McNulty of Alexandria, Va.

No charges have been brought.