Jonathan Pollard: Hero to Israel, Traitor to America

The Cold War created a world built on secrets. Intelligence agencies had fought hidden battles across Europe, the Middle East, and Washington itself. Nations spent billions protecting classified information because a single compromised source could expose military plans, intelligence operations, and strategic vulnerabilities across the globe. Most Americans expected spies to work for enemies like the Soviet Union or Communist China. But one of the most damaging espionage cases in modern U.S. history involved an American intelligence analyst passing enormous amounts of classified material to Israel, one of the United States' closest allies. Jonathan Pollard was not a trained Soviet mole operating from Moscow. He was a civilian intelligence analyst working inside the U.S. Navy's intelligence system. Over the course of several years, Pollard removed massive amounts of highly classified material involving American surveillance capabilities, Arab militaries, Soviet weapon systems, and intelligence collection methods. The damage was considered so severe that senior U.S. officials argued the full extent of what he had compromised could never be publicly disclosed. The case shattered trust between the United States and Israel, triggered outrage inside the American intelligence community, and remains one of the most controversial espionage scandals of the Cold War era. Who was Jonathan Pollard? What did he do, and why? How was he discovered and caught? What happened with his case? Hello, I'm Colin Heaton, former history professor, Army and Marine Corps veteran, and welcome to this episode of Forgotten History. Jonathan Pollard was a U.S. Navy civilian intelligence analyst who became one of the most notorious American spies of the Cold War era, not for spying for the Soviets, but for spying for Israel, a close U.S. ally. Jonathan J. Pollard was born in Galveston, Texas in 1954 to a Jewish family. He was the youngest of three siblings born to Morris and Mildred Molly Klein Pollard. In 1961, his family relocated to South Bend, Indiana, where his father, Morris, an award-winning microbiologist, taught at the University of Notre Dame. Pollard understood how deeply the Holocaust affected his mother's family, who were from Vilna, Lithuania, and his family visited several Nazi concentration camps. His parents also instilled a strong sense of Jewish identity in their children, including support for Zionism. Pollard's first visit to Israel came in 1970 as part of a science program visiting the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot. Later, Pollard enrolled in several graduate schools, but never completed a postgraduate degree. He was rejected by the CIA in 1977 because of extensive drug use. He also lied about earning a master's degree from Tufts University in Massachusetts and struggled with debt. On September 19, 1979, he was hired by the Navy Field Operational Intelligence Office, or NFOIO, part of the Naval Intelligence Command, or NIC. His position involved working on Soviet issues at the Navy Ocean Surveillance Information Center, known as NOSIC. A background check was required to receive the necessary security clearances, although no polygraph test was administered. In addition to a top-secret clearance, Pollard required the more stringent Sensitive Compartmented Information, or SCI, clearance. The Navy requested information from the CIA regarding Pollard, including the results of his pre-employment polygraph test that revealed extensive drug use, but that request was denied. Pollard's security clearance was later revoked after he divulged classified information to a South African Defense Attaché in 1980. During his interviews with Admiral Sumner Shapiro, commander of the Naval Intelligence Command, Pollard was dismissed as a kook. Shapiro later said, I wish the hell I'd fired him. Pollard's clearance was reduced to secret. He subsequently filed a grievance and threatened lawsuits in an attempt to recover his SCI clearance. While awaiting a decision, he worked on less sensitive material and began receiving excellent performance reviews. He was later ordered to undergo a mental examination, during which an Air Force clinical psychologist suggested Pollard was grandiose, manipulative, and, at times, uncertain of what was real, exaggerated, imagined, or false, and recommended therapy, along with reassignment to non-sensitive duties. However, that diagnosis was challenged, and a second evaluation was ordered. In 1982, after a second psychiatrist concluded that Pollard had no mental illness, his SCI clearance was reinstated. In October 1984, following a reorganization within the Navy's intelligence departments, Pollard applied for and was accepted into a position as an analyst directly under the Naval Intelligence Command. He was allowed to continue working with sensitive information because he was considered highly capable at his job. Over the course of his he was promoted from GS-7 to GS-13 and was regularly commended by his superiors. Soon after Pollard began working at NICTF-168, he met Colonel Avim Sella, a combat veteran of the Israeli Air Force. At the time, Sella was pursuing a master's degree in computer science at New York University. Pollard told Sella about what he claimed were incidents in which U.S. intelligence was withholding information from Israel and offered to work as a spy. Although Sella initially wondered whether Pollard might be part of an FBI operation targeting an Israeli officer, he eventually came to believe him. Within days, in June 1984, Pollard began passing classified information to Sella. He was paid $10,000 cash and given an extremely expensive diamond and sapphire ring, which Pollard later used to propose to his girlfriend, Anne Henderson. Beginning in June 1984, Pollard received the equivalent of $7,484 per month in today's money, along with tens of thousands of dollars in additional cash for hotels, meals, and jewelry. Pollard claimed his actions were motivated by the belief that the United States was failing to honor its intelligence commitments to Israel. He also agreed to provide Israel with American intelligence on its Arab neighbors, including information related to Soviet support in the region. Later that year, Pollard traveled to Paris, where he was trained and instructed on preparing documents for his Israeli handlers. Israel sought information on Arab and Pakistani nuclear technology, chemical and biological weapons programs, Soviet aircraft and air defense systems, along with intelligence on Arab military deployment and readiness. Pollard's handlers also requested dirt on Israeli political figures suspected of providing information to the United States. Between January and November 1985, Pollard delivered large caches of classified documents every two weeks to a Washington, D.C. apartment equipped with a specially built high-speed copier, where the material was copied and returned. His trips became so routine and the volume of intelligence he provided so extensive that he eventually demanded a raise. Pollard later met senior Israeli intelligence figure Raphael Eitan and handler Joseph Yossi Yager in Paris, where his espionage activities became more formalized. The CIA's damage assessment identified Eitan as the senior Israeli overseeing the operation and Yager as Pollard's primary handler. The material Pollard provided included intelligence on Saudi Arabia, Soviet air defense systems, and imagery of Iraq's Osirak nuclear facility. Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigator Ronald Olive eventually began investigating Pollard over suspicions that he had passed classified information to South Africa and had attempted through a third party to sell classified information to Pakistan on multiple occasions. Australian authorities also reported that Pollard disclosed classified American documents marked no foreign access allowed to a Royal Australian Navy officer participating in a naval liaison exchange program between United States and Australia. The Australian officer reported the incident through his chain of command and Australia ultimately recalled him from the United States out of concern that the disclosures could have been part of a CIA ruse. Pollard initially admitted to passing a single classified document to the Australian officer but later changed his account claiming his superiors had authorized the disclosure. Pollard worked at the Navy's Anti-Terrorist Alert Center in Maryland, a position that gave him access to highly classified intelligence from the Navy, NSA, CIA, and other intelligence channels. He ultimately passed along what investigators described as more than 800 documents, most involving Soviet weapons systems, Arab and Islamic state military capabilities, and sensitive technical intelligence. Pollard's supervisors became suspicious after he began falling behind in his work. A closer review revealed that he was handling substantial amounts of intelligence related to the Middle East rather than North America and the Caribbean, which were supposed to be his primary areas of focus. Coworkers also observed him removing classified documents from his workplace without authorization, and he was eventually caught on video taking sensitive materials. Once the FBI began investigating him, it did not take long to uncover what was happening. On October 25th, 1985, Pollard was observed carrying a large bundle of documents from his office to his wife's car. He was then placed under surveillance. On November 21st, 1985, Pollard and his wife went to the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. seeking asylum, but they returned away. Pollard was arrested outside the embassy shortly afterward. Following Pollard's arrest on November 21st, Ann Pollard managed to evade an FBI agent who was following her. She met Avim Sella at a restaurant and informed him of her husband's arrest. As a result, additional Israeli personnel connected to the operation were alerted, including science attachés Josef Jaeger and Ilan Ravid, along with embassy secretary Erich Erb. Lakem had not anticipated such a rapid collapse of the operation and had prepared no formal escape plan. The apartment where Pollard's stolen documents had been stored and copied was quickly cleared out, and the Israeli personnel involved were ordered to flee immediately. Sella and his wife traveled by train to New York before catching a flight to London. Jaeger fled to Canada, Erb fled to Mexico, and Ravid fled to Miami, where they boarded connecting flights to Israel. All four were out of the United States within 24 hours, and Pollard was arrested the following day, November 22nd, 1985. Among the most damaging intelligence Pollard is publicly known to have provided to Israel was information related to the VQ-2 electronic surveillance system and a 10-volume radio and signal intelligence manual. That material effectively revealed the United States' global listening profile, detailing which communications the National Security Agency was monitoring, which countries were being targeted, and what American intelligence priorities were at the time. Investigators also discovered that Pollard had stolen classified documents concerning China on behalf of his wife in an effort to advance her personal business interests. According to the CIA's Pollard Damage Assessment Report issued after his arrest, Ann Pollard kept the classified material inside their home, where authorities later recovered it during the investigation. Some of the intelligence Pollard provided is believed to have eventually reached the Soviet Union. Many analysts believe Israel may have traded portions of that information to the USSR in exchange for allowing more Soviet Jewish citizens to immigrate to Israel, along with possible spy exchanges. Pollard also handed over intelligence involving Syrian military communications, Syrian drone capabilities, Egyptian missile programs, Arab order of battle material, naval forces, port facilities, and sea lines of communication across the Middle East and North Africa, along with intelligence related to the PLO and Tunisia. Additional material included intelligence on Iraqi and Syrian chemical warfare production capabilities, detailed satellite imagery, Soviet air defense systems, the MiG-29 fighter aircraft, Soviet advisors operating in Syria, PLO headquarters in Tunisia, and Tunisian and Libyan air defense capabilities. Included among the stolen material were communications involving Soviet advisors in Syria and intelligence related to Pakistan's nuclear program, which was a major concern for Israel because of fears that Pakistan could eventually assist hostile Middle Eastern states, especially Iran. Beyond the major document transfers, Pollard also volunteered roughly 1,500 current intelligence messages drawn from U.S. intelligence summaries. These included the Middle East and North Africa Summary, known as MINAS, the Mediterranean Literal Intelligence Summary, known as MALOS, and the Indian Ocean Literal Intelligence Summary. All of this intelligence was highly sensitive because it revealed not only what the United States knew, but also how that intelligence was collected, exposing American sources and methods. Pollard also passed along at least one U.S. assessment of Israeli military capabilities that Israel had not requested and may not have even known existed. That assessment carried diplomatic significance because it revealed how U.S. intelligence evaluated Israeli strengths, weaknesses, and military performance in the event of a future conflict. Ann Pollard later stated that she did what, at the time, I believed to be correct in helping her husband and attempting to conceal stolen documents. She added, and I can't say that I would never help him again. However, I would look for different routes or different ways. Ann Pollard was sentenced to five years in prison but was paroled after serving three and a half years because of health problems. On June 4, 1986, Pollard pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to deliver national defense information to a foreign government. Prior to sentencing, Pollard spoke on his own behalf and stated that while his motives may have been well-meaning, they cannot, under any stretch of the imagination, excuse or justify the violation of the law, particularly one that involves the trust of government. I broke trust, ruined, and brought disgrace to my family. He also admitted and apologized for accepting money from the Israeli government in exchange for classified information. In his pre-sentencing statement to Judge Robinson, Pollard claimed the money had been forced upon him as a benefit. I did accept money for my services, Pollard acknowledged, but only as a reflection of how well I was doing my job. He also stated that he later told his handler, Rafi Eitan, a long-time Israeli intelligence officer who headed Likken, that he intended not only to repay the money he had received but also to establish a chair at the Israeli General Staff's Intelligence Training Center outside Tel Aviv. When Jonathan Pollard was convicted of espionage in 1987, he became the first American sentenced to life in prison for passing classified information to a U.S. ally. The volume of top-secret material Pollard provided to Israel was considered so extensive and damaging that the complete list of files involved remains classified. At his sentencing hearing, then-Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger submitted a scathing four-page memo to the court that stated, It is difficult for me, even in the so-called year of the spy, to conceive of a greater harm to national security than that caused by the defendant in view of the breadth, the critical importance to the U.S., and the high sensitivity of the information he sold to Israel. That information was intentionally reserved by the United States for its own use, because to disclose it to anyone or any nation would cause the greatest harm to our national security. During his imprisonment, Pollard divorced Anne so she could be free to move on with her life, but the Pollard case ultimately carried far wider implications than anyone initially anticipated. Israel publicly disavowed Pollard and the intelligence operation, claiming he had been part of an unauthorized rogue operation rather than an officially sanctioned mission. However, in 1988, Israel proposed a three-way exchange in which Pollard and his wife would be released and deported to Israel, and Israel would free Soviet spy Marcus Klingberg, and the Soviet Union would use its influence with Syria and Iran to secure the release of American hostages being held by Syrian and Iranian-backed terrorist groups. Pollard's Israeli handlers later admitted that the intelligence he provided helped support Israel's planning for the October 1, 1985, airstrike on PLO headquarters near Tunis. The CIA damage assessment specifically notes that Pollard's handlers told him his intelligence had provided critical support for that operation. In 1990, Israel considered offering to release Yosef Amit, an Israeli military intelligence officer serving a 12-year sentence for spying on behalf of the United States and other NATO countries, in exchange for Pollard. Sources differ on how the proposal ended. According to one account, Amit made it clear that he did not want to be exchanged. Another version claims Israeli officials blocked the idea out of concern that it would further inflame tensions with the United States. Amit was ultimately released in 1993. Then, in May 1998, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly acknowledged that Pollard had been an Israeli operative and attempted to broker a deal with President Bill Clinton for his release. The possibility of Pollard being freed early triggered a major backlash from the American intelligence community. After serving 30 years in prison, Pollard was released on November 20, 2015, as required under the parole laws in place at the time of his sentencing. Their primary conditions for his release were that he had committed no prison violations and was considered unlikely to commit similar crimes again. Even after leaving prison, however, Pollard was required to spend five years on parole in the New York City area. In 2020, after his parole restrictions expired, he immigrated to Israel. Following his divorce from Amit and his release, he remarried his second wife, Esther. In accordance with COVID-19 restrictions, Pollard and his second wife entered a two-week quarantine after arriving in Israel. The couple later settled in Jerusalem. Esther Pollard died on January 31, 2022, after spending two weeks hospitalized with COVID-19. Former Mossad Deputy Chief Rambin Barak later publicly expressed regret over the Pollard operation, stating that the recruitment and espionage effort were unknown by the intelligence leadership and unauthorized, and that the damage done to the U.S.-Israeli relationship far outweighed the value of the intelligence Pollard provided. Rambin Barak also stated, our entire relationship with the U.S. deteriorated because of this. People lost jobs over it. He added that the affair created years and years of suspicion, with American officials believing Pollard might not have been acting alone and doubting Israeli claims that the operation had been unauthorized. According to Rambin Barak, it caused huge, huge damage. They saw it as a betrayal of them. Israeli Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen later announced that Pollard would receive a government stipend equivalent to the pensions granted to former Mossad and Shin Bet personnel. Jonathan Pollard was not a Soviet mole, but his case was still viewed as a major betrayal by the United States intelligence community. He stole a massive volume of classified American intelligence and delivered it to Israel through an organized Israeli intelligence operation. His supporters viewed him as a man who helped Israel survive, while U.S. intelligence officials regarded him as a damaging insider or spy who compromised American secrets on a massive scale. Today, Jonathan Pollard continues to live in Jerusalem. He remains a deeply controversial figure there, viewed by some Israelis as a loyalist who aided Israel and by many within the American intelligence community as a traitor who severely compromised U.S. national security. Was he an Israeli patriot or an American who betrayed his country? We let you decide. Thank you for watching this episode of Forgotten History. If you liked what you saw, please click like, share, and subscribe. And, if you would like to assist with the ever-increasing costs of production, please consider becoming a channel member and joining our Patreon page.