"According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Steven J. Rosen will be
allowed to move ahead with his civil defamation lawsuit against the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).  Rosen and fellow AIPAC
employee Keith Weissman were indicted under the 1917 Espionage Act in 2005
along with Department of Defense Employee Col. Lawrence Franklin for
passing classified national defense informaiton.  Franklin pled guilty,
but Rosen and Weissman’s case never went to trial — US attorneys gave up
(PDF) after the presiding judge made a successful prosecution unlikely.

Rosen’s 2009 civil lawsuit contends that AIPAC defamed him when its
spokesperson claimed that he "did not comport with standards that AIPAC
expects of its employees." Rosen’s many filings in court reveal that his
fundamental case is that AIPAC commonly circulates and distributes
classified US government information when it suits the organization’s
purpose in lobbying for Israel.  AIPAC defamed him, he alleges, by
claiming he was somehow unique.  

An FBI file declassified and released on July 31, 2009 (PDF) backs up
Rosen’s assertions.  In 1984 AIPAC obtained a classified report compiled
from the business secrets of US industries and associations opposed to
signing a bilateral trade agreement with Israel.  The FBI found that AIPAC
had "attempted to influence members of Congress with the use of a
purloined copy of the ITC report and had usurped their authority."

The Washington Field Office of the FBI went on to assert that "AIPAC is a
powerful-pro Israel lobbying group staffed by U.S. citizens.  WFO files
contain an unsubstantiated allegation that a member of the Israeli
Intelligence Service was a staff member of AIPAC."

Rosen is well on his way to claiming $20 million in damages for AIPAC’s
"defamation" propelled by the court’s new ruling.  But for Americans much
larger concerns linger.  Why isn’t AIPAC registering as an agent of a
foreign principal if it is collaborating so closely with foreign
intelligence services?  Why are these matters being litigated in civil
court as a family squabble between members of the Israel lobby?  If
espionage is a recurring, institutionalized feature of AIPAC, doesn’t that
mitigate against its claims to be an American non-profit, working for
American interests?  From the NRA to the AARP, no legitimate American
nonprofit lobby has ever been found to be trafficking in so much
intelligence information, or so frequently channeling it to a foreign
government parties and friends in the establishment media."
http://original.antiwar.com/smith-grant/2009/11/04/why-does-aipac-s...