Jonathan Pollard was a U.S. naval intelligence analyst who passed secrets and got caught0. He was convicted in 1987, after he pled guilty to spying for Israel and providing top-secret classified information to the country. For years, Israel denied having any connection to him, but later the country admitted ties with Pollard and campaigned for his release. This week, as reports emerge that Pollard will be paroled after serving 30 years of his life sentence behind bars, the world began to revisit the story of this native Texan turned international spy.
Published reports in Washington claim that Pollard received word of his imminent freedom
from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, but was advised to remain silent until a full report was published in the Wall Street Journal, so as not to jeopardize plans. Pollard’s Texas connections may come as a surprise to many, but not to Ronald J. Olive who is the author of the book “Capturing Jonathan Pollard: How One of the Most Notorious Spies in American History was Brought to Justice”.
On Pollard’s religious background:
“When our investigation started, it was at that time that we realized he was Jewish. He claimed to be a high level Episcopalian when he was asked about religion when he was working for [the Naval Investigative Service] at the time.”
On Pollard’s motivation:
“He needed to be somebody. He wanted to be somebody. He grew up, was sort of shy and everything. Don’t get me wrong, Jonathan Pollard is an intelligent individual. He’s very smart. But he lives in a fantasy world and that’s where all these things started coming out…this fantasy world of his. His lies and his deceit and his manipulation as he got older got worse and worse.”
On the amount of information Pollard handed over:
“Pollard literally stole over one million documents that would fill a room 6 feet high, 6 feet wide, and 10 feet long. Once a week, or once every two weeks, he would take his whole stash and deliver it to an Israeli agent that would take it from him. This went on for 18 months. That’s the reason why…it was devastating to the U. S. intelligence community.”
