On January 10, 2011, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee was challenged in the District of Columbia Superior Court over its past receipt, duplication and redistribution of U.S. government classified documents.
AIPAC, defending itself from plaintiff and former employee Steven J. Rosen’s $20 million defamation suit, attempted to minimize its role as the target of an FBI investigation conducted between 1984 and 1987. At issue was whether AIPAC’s past receipt, use, and duplication of a U.S. government classified report secretly delivered by the Israeli embassy constituted wrongdoing. The classified document, Probable Economic Effect of Providing Duty Free Treatment for U.S. Imports from Israel, Investigation No. 332-180 was a compilation of “business confidential” information the International Trade Commission and US Trade Representative solicited from U.S. industry and worker groups. The report was part of the advice and consent deliberative process over whether the U.S. should enter into a bilateral trade agreement with Israel.
On January 3, 2011, AIPAC filed statements in court about the “USTR document obtained by AIPAC in 1984” claiming “�following an FBI investigation of the matter, AIPAC was cleared of any wrongdoing and the document that framed the basis of the investigation contained no classified national defense information.” AIPAC then filed a copy of an August 13, 1984 FBI Washington Field Office investigation summary, first obtained by author Grant F. Smith under the Freedom of Information Act in 2009, to substantiate its claims…