By Grant Smith, IRMEP – Hank Greenspun was a convicted felon who, according to his FBI file, in the late forties stole .50 calibre machine guns from the US Navy and violated Arms Export control laws in order to arm the terrorist Irgun gang. 

On June 27, 2012, the FBI partially declassified and released seven additional pages[.pdf] from a 1985–2002 investigation into how a network of front companies connected to the Israeli Ministry of Defense illegally smuggled nuclear triggers out of the U.S.* The newly released FBI files detail how Richard Kelly Smyth — who was convicted of running a U.S. front company — met with Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel during the smuggling operation.

AntiWar - The US Department of Justice has released new files about convicted spy Jonathan Pollard’s bid for presidential clemency.  Pollard was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 after passing more than a million highly classified documents to Israel while working as an intelligence analyst for the US Navy.  Documents in the Freedom of Information Act response (PDF) reference 32 pages of government agency deliberative communications and 37 pages of new communications between Pardon Attorney Ronald Rogers and Pollard’s legal team — all produced since July of 2011. While the contents have been withheld, their existence signals that the Pollard commutation request may be nearing a conclusion within the Obama administration.  June 18 could mark the culmination of a massive lobbying campaign for release.  Obama’s dismal record on Israeli accountability suggests Pollard will soon walk free.

AntiWar - FBI files detailing Israel’s stealth acquisition of U.S. nuclear triggers were declassified and released on Dec. 28, 2011. The FBI’s secret Portland and Los Angeles inter-office communications were originally scheduled for release in the year 2036. Their availability today reveals how Israel’s elite spy networks acquire U.S. nuclear technologies while evading criminal and diplomatic consequences.

Author Norman F. Dacey made powerful enemies. He turned the cozy estate-planning industry upside-down after publishing How to Avoid Probate in 1965. The book sold 2 million copies as Dacey barnstormed [.pdf] the country advising Americans how to structure their estates to avoid the costs, delays, and publicity of probate by setting up trusts. Dacey engaged in fierce battles with various bar associations who tried to shutdown publication of the book by claiming he was practicing law without a license. The tenacious Dacey returned fire, filing scores of libel and First Amendment lawsuits.

Antiwar - On Feb. 14, 2012, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee will deliver oral arguments to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. At issue is whether AIPAC defamed its former top official Steven J. Rosen by telling the New York Times he was terminated because his behavior “did not comport with standards that AIPAC expects of its employees.” Fortunately for AIPAC, it is extremely difficult for public figures to win defamation suits in America. Unfortunately for AIPAC, it has now filed so many false and easily debunked claims in appeals court that a sensible presiding judge may allow Rosen’s $20 million in claims against AIPAC and its board of directors to move on to a jury trial.