ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 21 (UPI) -- Former U.S. Defense Department analyst Lawrence Franklin has been sentenced to 12 years and seven months for passing information to Israel.
Franklin, 59, was sentenced Friday in Alexandria, Va., after admitting to passing classified military information about Iran and Iraq to two pro-Israel lobbyists and an Israeli diplomat.
He pleaded guilty in October to three felony counts under the Espionage Act in exchange for his cooperation and the government dropping three other charges. He will not begin his sentence until after legal proceedings against the two lobbyists, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman are completed, the New York Times reported.
The indictment against them said the two men had gathered and disclosed classified information about several subjects, including U.S. policy in Iran, terrorism in Central Asia, al-Qaida and the bombing in 1996 of the Khobar Towers building in Saudi Arabia, which killed 23 Americans.
