Ex-Analyst Is Expected to Face New Charges


The New York Times
 Date: 05-24-05

By DAVID JOHNSTON

WASHINGTON, May 23 - A former Pentagon analyst, already accused of illegally disclosing military secrets, will be charged as early as Tuesday with illegally keeping classified documents at his home in West Virginia, his lawyer said on Monday.

The former analyst, Lawrence A. Franklin, 58, will be charged in a criminal complaint to be brought in a federal court in West Virginia, said his lawyer, Plato Cacheris. Mr. Franklin was arrested May 4 on a criminal complaint filed in Alexandria, Va., accused of illegally disclosing classified information related to potential attacks on American forces in Iraq.

Lawyers inside and outside the government said it was likely that the criminal complaints brought by prosecutors would soon be replaced by federal grand jury indictments.

Mr. Franklin worked at the Defense Department since 1979 and was regarded as an expert on the Middle East, particularly Iran.

In most circumstances, government officials like Mr. Franklin with the clearance to handle classified materials are prohibited by law from copying them or removing them from secure areas.

When the first criminal complaint was filed, the government also submitted an affidavit, signed by an F.B.I. agent, that hinted additional charges would follow. It said investigators who searched Mr. Franklin's home in Kearneysville, W.Va., on June 30, 2004, found 83 classified documents.

Source

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