Indyk questioned

[alphonse giovanini]

Indyk questioned over notes in his PC

Clinton supports State's handling of case

By Ze'ev Schiff and Nitzan Horowitz
Ha'aretz Correspondents and Reuters

The security investigation of U.S. Ambassador to
Israel Martin Indyk centers on personal notes he made
in his laptop computer over a long period about
conversations with Middle East leaders, and other
meetings.

The Administration classified such material as secret,
leading the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the
security unit of the State Department to conclude that
Indyk violated security protocols.

The notes were discovered in the course of an
investigation when Indyk, among others, was asked to
submit his computer for examination. Indyk is not
suspected of copying secret documents into his
computer.

Indyk's security clearance was lifted by the FBI and
he has been suspended from his post as ambassador to
Israel. He had returned to Washington at the beginning
of September to help prepare President Bill Clinton's
meetings in New York with Prime Minister Ehud Barak
and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

He did not return to Israel and is now in Washington
awaiting the outcome. He is said to be cooperating
fully with investigators.

A senior assistant to the U.S. Senate's Foreign
Relations Committee yesterday told the Washington
Times the Indyk investigation has only just begun and
there is more to it than has been reported in the
media.

The official said some reports suggested the State
Department had originally intended to ignore
suspicions about Indyk.

A source close to Indyk told Ha'aretz yesterday the
investigation of the ambassador does not resemble that
of the former director of the Central Intelligence
Agency, John Deutch, who is accused of downloading
classified material into unclassified computers.

Neither is Indyk suspected of disclosing or passing
classified material to Israelis or other
non-Americans, the source noted.

The source said whenever Indyk met leaders and senior
officials he took notes by hand and later transcribed
them to his laptop.

Clinton said yesterday he supports the way the State
Department is handling the Indyk case. Clinton added
that he did not think the Indyk investigation will
affect the administration's peace efforts.

Israel's former ambassador to Washington, Itamar
Rabinovich, said yesterday after speaking to Indyk,
"he is in New York fighting for his good name and
future and feels he is paying a price for a certain
atmosphere created over security questions."

A U.S. Jewish leader yesterday wondered if
anti-Semitism lay behind the suspension of Indyk's
security clearance.

"First of all, he is a political appointee. Second, he
doesn't come from the community of State Department
officials, he comes from outside. And third, he is a
Jew," said Abe Foxman, the national director of the
Anti-Defamation League.

"Until I see other people in the same situation, I
have to ask the question," Foxman told Israel's Army
Radio.

alphonse giovanini



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