A Pentagon expert pleaded guilty Wednesday for leaking classified information to two pro-Israel lobbyists and an Israeli official.

Lawrence A. Franklin, 58, told a court in Virginia that he had given classified information of the Pentagon to a political official at the Israeli embassy and two members of American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a pro-Israel lobby group.

He pleaded guilty to two conspiracy counts and a charge of unlawful retention of national defense information. The sentencing is set for Jan. 20, 2006.

Franklin, a Pentagon policy expert on Iran and the Middle East, was indicted in June on conspiracy and leak charges.

The two lobbyists involved in the case, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, have also been charged with conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US defense information.

According to the indictment, Franklin met periodically with Rosen and Weissman between 2002 and 2004 and discussed classified information, including information about potential attacks on US troops in Iraq.

Rosen and Weissman subsequently shared what they learned with reporters and Israeli officials. On at least one occasion, Franklin spoke directly to an Israeli official.

The US government has chosen not to charge any of the three with espionage, although the FBI has questioned at least one Israeli official.

The case reminded some of a tense time in US-Israeli relations: the 1985 scandal in which US Navy analyst Jonathan Pollard was caught spying for Israel.

After that, Israel declared that it has imposed a ban on espionage in the United States.

Source: Xinhua