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Policy Analyst Said to Have Rejected Plea Deal
(Los Angeles Times) Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin, being investigated for allegedly helping pass secrets to Israel, has stopped cooperating with authorities and retained a new lawyer to fight possible espionage charges, sources familiar with the case said Tuesday. Federal prosecutors had proposed an agreement under which Franklin would plead guilty to some of the charges. But sources said Franklin had rejected a proposed deal because he believed the terms were too onerous. Some U.S. officials familiar with the investigation have said there was little hard evidence that Franklin intended to commit espionage and no hint that he was paid for any role he might have played. The classified information he is suspected of sharing includes a draft version of a national security presidential directive on Iran that discussed measures the U.S. could take to help destabilize the regime in Tehran. But officials also have said that the draft contained little in the way of sensitive secrets that had not been reported by the media.