Spying on Friends

     The recent announcement by the U.S. government that Jonathan Pollard, the convicted American spy for Israel will be paroled brought to mind the subject of spying on "friends."  Pollard, who worked for U.S. Naval Intelligence, spied on behalf of Israel and was caught and convicted of espionage in 1985.  Pollard was born in the U.S. of U.S. born Jewish parents and grew up in an upper middle class environment.  He graduated from Stanford University with a degree in Political Science and sought employment in the intelligence community.  While in college, he was known to boast to friends that he was in fact a dual citizen (Israeli/U.S.) and that he worked for the Israeli intelligence, Mossad.  At the time, it was a lie, he did not work for the Israelis. 
     Upon graduation from college, he interviewed for a job with CIA who turned him down as a security risk.  However, the Navy hired him despite the fact that CIA found him wanting.  While with the Naval Intelligence, he committed several missteps but instead of firing him, he was simply transferred to another job!  He was finally caught spying for Israel and convicted to life imprisonment in 1985.
     Israel has been lobbying to have him released, and the U.S. government had steadfastly refused, saying that they had to set an example.  Interestingly, after serving 30 years, suddenly Washington no longer feels a need to "set an example."  Could it be that the present government is attempting to appease the Israelis after the Iran Nuclear Deal?  I hate to be so cynical, but I am afraid there is no other explanation for this unprecedented "parole" of a convicted spy.  Chances are also that Obama will pardon Pollard, allowing him to move to Israel!
     The last time a "friend" of the U.S. spied on our country was sometime ago.  The infamous Kim Philby of the "Cambridge Five" notoriety was stationed in Washington D.C. during and shortly after World War Two as a British Intelligence Liaison with the U.S. Intelligence.  He had access to the most secret information concerning our war plans as well as anti soviet activities.  You see, Philby, although an Englishman working as a high ranking officer for MI6, was actually a double agent working for KGB.  Philby passed some extremely sensitive information that caused the deaths of a large number of our agents in the Soviet Union.
     In case of Philby, although he was British and ostensibly representing the British Intelligence, he was working for the Soviet Union, so he was not exactly a friend spying on friends.  But, since he was a British intelligence officer as well as a Soviet spy, I included him in this discussion.
     Friendly countries spying on each other is not something new or unusual.  Most recently we got caught with our hand in a cookie jar when Wikileaks divulged information that NSA had been listening-in on telephone conversation of Angela Merkel of Germany as well as the French president and other leaders of friendly European countries!  It may not seem gentlemanly, but we have always spied on friends as they have spied on us!  For instance, we are not exactly enemies with China.  It would be more accurate to say that we are friends, despite our differences in political ideologies.  Yet, we are constantly sounding the alarm about Chinese spying, especially in the cyber world!  Don't think we are not doing the same to them!  We have been spying on our friends, the British (our closest ally!) included, since we became an independent nation in 1776!   Believe it or not, but the Revolutionary War or the War of Independence was largely won because of our superior intelligence rather than the marksmanship of our troops, as Hollywood likes to portray.  George Washington was much better at organizing and running an intelligence operation than battle tactics!  He had other generals to do the military stuff, he was obsessed with spy networks and intelligence gathering!
     Going back into history, despite the reputation of the ruthlessness of his warriors, Chinghis (Genghis) Khan's greatest asset was his extensive network of spies, his intelligence network.  He knew more about his enemies than in some instances, they knew about themselves!
     The old adage that "Gentlemen do not spy on each other!" or as one of our Secretary of States famously stated before World War Two, referring to intercepting messages from other embassies, "Gentlemen do no read other gentlemen's mail!" is quaint but terribly naïve. Yes, a noble attitude, but look where it got us at the start of World War Two!  Unprepared and uninformed!
     So, despite the fact that the idea of spying on friendly countries may seem despicable and unwarranted, in the real world, it does take place and has been taking place for centuries!  Wikileaks let everyone know about NSA's eves-dropping.  But there is much more going on.  Unfortunately, we probably have better intelligence on our "friends" than we do on our enemies.  One of our failures in the Middle East is lack of "humint" or human intelligence, the "boots on the ground" of agents spying for us.  So, despite all the sophisticated electronics, the bottom line is always human intelligence, and spying on friends, I am afraid, is something that will not go away.