Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) copied the computer hard drive of a senior official at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as part of their investigation of a Pentagon analyst suspected of turning over classified information to Israel, according to officials familiar with the investigation. FBI agents reportedly met earlier this week with two officials at AIPAC, the influential pro-Israel lobby in Washington, in an investigation of whether a Defense Department analyst passed documents to Israeli intelligence through officials of the lobby group. During the interviews, reportedly federal agents asked the AIPAC officials about their contacts with the Pentagon analyst. The FBI also copied one of their computer hard drives and AIPAC provided investigators with documents, the sources said. The sources also said the two AIPAC officials interviewed by the FBI have not been advised that they are targets of the investigation, launched more than a year ago on suspicions the Pentagon analyst passed secret documents to Israel about Iran. The interviews, stopped when the AIPAC officials requested to have lawyers present, have yet to resume. AIPAC insisted in a statement that it is cooperating fully with U.S. investigators. "Neither AIPAC nor any of its employees has violated any laws or rules, nor has AIPAC or its employees ever received information they believed was secret or classified," the organization said. --SP 2302 Local Time 2002 GMT
