WASHINGTON, May 4: The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday arrested a senior Defence Department analyst on charges of disclosing top secret information about potential attacks on US forces in Iraq to members of a pro-Israel lobbying group, the Justice Department said. Lawrence Franklin, who served on the Iran desk in the office of the defence secretary, turned himself in to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington after the charges were unsealed, the department said.

“A criminal complaint filed Tuesday and unsealed this morning charges Franklin with disclosing classified US national defence information to a person or persons not entitled to receive it,” the department said. “The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.”

Mr Franklin, 58, is alleged to have revealed classified information to two employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a prominent pro-Israel lobby, at a restaurant in Arlington, Virginia on June 26, 2003.

“At the lunch, Franklin allegedly disclosed classified information designated Top Secret related to potential attacks upon US forces in Iraq to the two individuals, neither of whom had the security clearance to receive that information,” the Justice Department said.

“Franklin allegedly told the two individuals that the information was ‘highly classified’ and asked them not to ‘use’ it,” it said. A search of Franklin’s office turned up a classified document from June 2003 that contained the information that the analyst is alleged to have handed over, according to the complaint.

The complaint also alleges that Franklin turned over classified information to a foreign official and members of the news media on other occasions. According to an FBI affidavit, 83 classified documents spanning three decades were found in a search of Franklin’s home in West Virginia.

The investigation was believed to have focused on whether classified information that Franklin passed on was leaked to the Israeli government. AIPAC last month dismissed two senior employees — policy director Steve Rosen and senior analyst Keith Weissman. At the time, the two denied through their lawyer having solicited, received or passed on classified documents. —AFP