ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 20 (UPI) -- A former State Department analyst and Iran expert was sentenced to 12 years Friday for passing classified information to Israel and two pro-Israeli lobbyists.
Lawrence Franklin, who pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors, will not go to prison until Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, former employees of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee, are tried, the New York Times reported. Prosecutors could ask the judge for a sentence reduction.
Judge T.S. Ellis III said as he imposed sentence that he believed Franklin was trying to help the United States, not to hurt it. The sentence he imposed was at the low end of the recommendation of federal guidelines.
Rosen and Weissman -- who did not work for the government or have security clearances -- are charged with conspiring to pass classified information to reporters and to an unnamed foreign power, identified by officials as Israel.
