The former Pentagon analyst charged with leaking U.S. secrets pleaded guilty Wednesday and named his Israeli contact. Lawrence Franklin entered a guilty plea to three of the six government charges against him on condition that he testify in the trial of two former American Israel Public Affairs Committee staffers, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman. In pleading guilty to charges of mishandling classified information, the former Iran analyst insisted it was never his intent to harm U.S. interests. His relationship with the two AIPAC staffers, he said, was aimed at getting information through to the White House, and his relationship with Naor Gilon, a political officer at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, was to extract information, not to give it, he said. Gilon “gave me far more information than I gave him,” Franklin said. It was the first time Gilon’s name was made public, though others have leaked it. Gilon has returned to Israel, and lawyers for Rosen have s! aid Gilon is not cooperating in the case.
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