Jonathan Pollard: What the CIA said

“¢ Born Aug. 7, 1954, in Galveston, Texas. Pollard’s family moves to South Bend, Ind., in 1961, where his father, an award-winning microbiologist, teaches at Notre Dame.

“¢ Pollard makes first trip to Israel in 1970 as part of a science program at the Weizmann Institute. Pollard is hospitalized after fighting with another student.

“¢ Pollard obtains a political science degree in 1976 from Stanford University. He claims ties to the Mossad and of having dual American-Israeli citizenship, both untrue. He enrolls in several graduate schools, but never completes a postgraduate program. He meets his future wife, Anne Henderson, while both live in Sacramento, Calif.

“¢ In 1979, Pollard applies to the CIA for a position, but is rejected after admitting in a polygraph test to drug use. Hired by the U.S. Navy as an intelligence specialist, he is denied top security clearance. He is reassigned after two months, when his boss calls for his firing.

“¢ Pollard tries to sell a proposal for a back-channel South Africa operation to a higher-up, Adm. Sumner Shapiro, who characterizes him as a “kook.”

“¢ Pollard’s security clearance is reinstated in 1982 after a psychiatrist concludes he has no mental illness. In 1984, Pollard is accepted for a position as an analyst for the Naval Intelligence Command.

“¢ Pollard begins passing information to Aviem Sella, an Israeli Air Force colonel on leave as a student at New York University. Pollard accepts $10,000 and a diamond and sapphire ring. He is put on a retainer of $1,500 per month.

“¢ In November 1985, Pollard gives a partial confession to the FBI after being discovered by a co-worker removing documents from his office. He and wife try to gain asylum at the Israel embassy, but are rebuffed by guards. Pollard is arrested but his wife is allowed to leave. She tips off Sella. The colonel, his wife, and two other Israelis flee the United States.

“¢ Pollard accepts a plea agreement in June 1986, admitting one count of conspiracy to deliver defense information to a foreign government.

“¢ In March 1987, he is sentenced to life in prison. Anne Henderson-Pollard is sentenced to five years and paroled after serving three and one-half years.

“¢ Israel grants citizenship to Pollard in November 1995, maintaining he worked for a rogue operation.

“¢ In 1998, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admits Pollard served as an information source and that the government had paid for two of his attorneys.

“¢ Netanyahu visits the convicted spy in prison in 2002.

“¢ In June 2011, the United States denies a request to allow Pollard to attend his father’s funeral.

– Compiled by Jonathan Lazarus