The best proof of this is that Joseph deGenova, the prosecutor in the Pollard case, has publicly called for all the classified information in that case to be made public. Several years ago, the government claimed that 13 of Pollard's letters contained classified information. Aspin must be aware of this statement, yet in his letter to the president, he conveyed the false impression that the contents of Pollard's letters currently have the potential to damage US national security. What we are seeing here is yet another abuse of the classification system by the Pentagon to serve political rather than national security interests. The entire classification system reeks of arbitrariness.
Insiders leak classified information with impunity.
I was recently told by a former intelligence official that he had been shown classified information in the Pollard case to give him ammunition to oppose Pollard's release. In another leak, intelligence officials assert that information provided by Pollard to Israel may have inadvertently found its way to the Soviet Union. Yet prosecutor deGenova asserted during a public debate that he had no information to confirm this. In a democracy it is unfair for the government to argue against the rights of a citizen by relying on classified information without giving that citizen the right to defend against its charges. A full, fair and open review of the facts will show that the information provided by Pollard to Israel was largely tactical and regional.