Polygraph Did Not Deter Larry A. Franklin

[George W. Maschke]

On Wednesday, 5 October 2005, Department of Defense analyst and U.S. Air Force Reserve colonel Dr. Larry Anthony Franklin pled guilty to a charge of conspiracy to communicate national defense information and illegal possession of national defense information. Franklin provided classified information to two employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (who have also been indicted) and also kept a library of classified documents in his home. Assigned to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, International Security Affairs, Office of Near East and South Asia, Office of Northern Gulf Affairs, Iran desk, Franklin held a top secret security clearance with access to sensitive compartmented information (SCI). He presumably was "read-on" to at least one special access program as well, and as such would have been subject to counterintelligence-scope polygraph screening. But the prospect of the polygraph seems to have been no deterrent.

CNN reports on Franklin's plea agreement here:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/10/05/pentagon.guilty/index.html

The indictment in U.S. v. Franklin et al. is available here:

http://news.findlaw.com/cnn/docs/dod/usfrnklin80205ind.pdf