Boustany, Nora, and
Brian Duffy. "Israel's Secret American Friend: The FBI Is Looking into
Whether a High-Ranking U.S. Official Passed Along Sensitive Information."
Washington Post National Weekly Edition, 12 May 1997, 16. Boustany, Nora, and
Brian Duffy. "Israel's Secret American Friend: The FBI Is Looking into
Whether a High-Ranking U.S. Official Passed Along Sensitive Information."
Washington Post National Weekly Edition, 12 May 1997, 16.
The FBI began an investigation in January 1997 into whether a U.S. official is passing classified information to Israel. The effort began after NSA intercepted a secure telephone conversation between a Mossad officer in Washington and his superior in Tel Aviv. That conversation referred to someone code-named "Mega." It was suggested that "Mega" might be able to obtain a sensitive U.S. document.
Gellman, Barton. "Senior Israeli Officials Strongly Deny Reports of 'Mole' in U.S. Government." Washington Post, 8 May 1997, A20.
Thomas, Gordon. Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad. New York: St. Martin's, 1999. London: Macmillan, 1999.
Travis, New York Post, 4 Mar. 1999, reports that this work charges that "Israel blackmailed President Clinton with phone-tapped tapes of his steamy sex talks with Monica Lewinsky.... The price Clinton paid for the silence of the Mossad spy agency was calling off an FBI hunt for a top-level Israeli mole ["Mega"] ... who was, and could still be, deep within the White House." Gurdon and Davies, Electronic Telegraph, 4 Mar. 1999, and Sammon and Gertz, Washington Times National Weekly Edition, 8-14 Mar. 1999, also report this aspect of Thomas' book.
The reviewer for Publisher's Weekly, 22 Feb. 99, believes that "[a]stute readers ... will question whether" the author's "unnamed informants have given the straight scoop.... Thomas writes with the pulpy charm familiar to readers of Englsh tabloids; however, his use of unnamed sources and his reliance on conjecture will leave readers intrigued but determined to reserve judgment."
Foster, Contemporary Review, Nov. 1999, comments that "[d]espite its pace and sensational Sunday-paper readability, [Thomas'] book covers the ground thoroughly and generally accurately." However, the author "[o]ccasionally ... gives way to temptations which he should have resisted," as in speculating about Mossad's role in the death of the Princess of Wales.
Clark comment: The New York Post account refers to Thomas as a "respected author," while the Electronic Telegraph story says Thomas "has been writing about espionage for 25 years." Both these statements may be true; but this is the first time I have ever heard the name and there are no entries for a Gordon Thomas in this or any other intelligence-related bibliography that I have consulted.
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