March 26, 2015
By Sarah Westwood
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/obama-administration-uses-old-pentagon-foia-to-out-israels-nukes/article/2562078
Three years after a researcher filed a Freedom of Information Act request for a Department of Defense report discussing Israel's nuclear weapon capabilities, the Obama administration released the document in what has been called an unprecedented acknowledgement of the heretofore secret arsenal protecting the Middle Eastern nation.
The release nearly coincided with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's highly controversial address to Congress earlier this month, raising questions as to why the Pentagon suddenly complied with a 2012 FOIA request that had become the subject of a lawsuit.
The report, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Examiner, revealed a highly unusual level of detail about the Israeli government's research, including the names of scientists who worked on weapons systems, the locations of military research and pages of charts with specific dimensions.
The document also suggested that Israel's "electronic warfare and communications equipment" was ahead of U.S. equipment, and that much of the country's technology was "based on extrapolations of U.S. equipment and ideas."
Grant Smith of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy downplayed the notion that the Pentagon was nettling Israel by releasing only the portions of the unclassified report that dealt with Israel's nuclear technology.
"That was actually something we negotiated because we only cover the Middle East," Smith told the Washington Examiner. His group filed a FOIA request for the Institute for Defense Analyses report in January 2012.
When defense officials released the 1987 document on Feb. 10, they withheld portions that discussed nuclear conditions in NATO countries.
"We told the Department of Defense we only wanted the Israel sections," Smith said. He noted the document had never been classified, but was instead "tightly controlled" by the Pentagon for decades.
The Institute for Defense Analyses produced the report, titled "Critical Technology Issues in Israel and NATO Countries," on the Pentagon's dime in 1987. In it, the research nonprofit detailed the process by which Israel inched toward production of hydrogen and atomic bombs.
Smith's group warned the Defense Department of its intent to sue the government if officials continued to ignore its FOIA request in July 2014, FOIA logs obtained by the Examiner show.
The Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy filed a lawsuit for the report in district court one month later.
Defense officials attempted a variety of legal maneuvers over the past three years to avoid releasing the document before complying with the FOIA request last month.
Included in the report was the revelation that Israel was "developing the kind of codes which will enable them to make hydrogen bombs. That is, codes which detail fission and fusion processes on a microscopic and macroscopic level" in the 1980s.
Writing in the Jewish Daily Forward, Michael Karpin, Israeli journalist and author of a book about Israel's nuclear ability, expressed his "astonishment" at the report's release.
"I have never seen an official American document disclosing such extensive revelation on subjects that until now were regarded by both administrations as unspeakable secrets," Karpin wrote. "It should be emphasized that in the history of the relations between the two countries, there is no other published official American document that mentions in any way the Israelis' development of hydrogen bombs."
By Sarah Westwood
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/obama-administration-uses-old-pentagon-foia-to-out-israels-nukes/article/2562078
Three years after a researcher filed a Freedom of Information Act request for a Department of Defense report discussing Israel's nuclear weapon capabilities, the Obama administration released the document in what has been called an unprecedented acknowledgement of the heretofore secret arsenal protecting the Middle Eastern nation.
The release nearly coincided with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's highly controversial address to Congress earlier this month, raising questions as to why the Pentagon suddenly complied with a 2012 FOIA request that had become the subject of a lawsuit.
The report, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Examiner, revealed a highly unusual level of detail about the Israeli government's research, including the names of scientists who worked on weapons systems, the locations of military research and pages of charts with specific dimensions.
The document also suggested that Israel's "electronic warfare and communications equipment" was ahead of U.S. equipment, and that much of the country's technology was "based on extrapolations of U.S. equipment and ideas."
Grant Smith of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy downplayed the notion that the Pentagon was nettling Israel by releasing only the portions of the unclassified report that dealt with Israel's nuclear technology.
"That was actually something we negotiated because we only cover the Middle East," Smith told the Washington Examiner. His group filed a FOIA request for the Institute for Defense Analyses report in January 2012.
When defense officials released the 1987 document on Feb. 10, they withheld portions that discussed nuclear conditions in NATO countries.
"We told the Department of Defense we only wanted the Israel sections," Smith said. He noted the document had never been classified, but was instead "tightly controlled" by the Pentagon for decades.
The Institute for Defense Analyses produced the report, titled "Critical Technology Issues in Israel and NATO Countries," on the Pentagon's dime in 1987. In it, the research nonprofit detailed the process by which Israel inched toward production of hydrogen and atomic bombs.
Smith's group warned the Defense Department of its intent to sue the government if officials continued to ignore its FOIA request in July 2014, FOIA logs obtained by the Examiner show.
The Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy filed a lawsuit for the report in district court one month later.
Defense officials attempted a variety of legal maneuvers over the past three years to avoid releasing the document before complying with the FOIA request last month.
Included in the report was the revelation that Israel was "developing the kind of codes which will enable them to make hydrogen bombs. That is, codes which detail fission and fusion processes on a microscopic and macroscopic level" in the 1980s.
Writing in the Jewish Daily Forward, Michael Karpin, Israeli journalist and author of a book about Israel's nuclear ability, expressed his "astonishment" at the report's release.
"I have never seen an official American document disclosing such extensive revelation on subjects that until now were regarded by both administrations as unspeakable secrets," Karpin wrote. "It should be emphasized that in the history of the relations between the two countries, there is no other published official American document that mentions in any way the Israelis' development of hydrogen bombs."
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