PROOF FROM ISRAEL: LEAKING STATE SECRETS HAS HUGE NEGATIVE EFFECT ON SECURITY

HAARETZ:

Ex-Mossad head: Israeli reports led to death of Egyptian agent

Former Mossad head Zvi Zamir has said that reports in Israel about Dr. Ashraf Marwan, Israel's Egyptian agent who warned of the pending outbreak of the Yom Kippur War, led to his death.

"I have no doubt that reports published about him in Israel caused his death," Zamir told Haaretz Thursday, in response to Marwan's mysterious death in London on Wednesday.

Zamir, who questioned Marwan during a secret meeting held in London on the Friday on the eve of the 1973 war, said he had no idea whether the Egyptian had committed suicide or had been assassinated.

"This is a matter to be investigated by the British police. But it is clear that the reports and the exposure of his name by Eli Zeira [who was head of Military Intelligence in 1973] have led to his death," Zamir said.

Four years ago, Zamir and two retired senior Military Intelligence officers - Brigadier General Amos Gilboa and Colonel Yossi Langotsky - had asked Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz to initiate an investigation against Zeira. Mofaz refused the request and directed the three to the Attorney General's office. The group filed a complaint with Menachem Mazuz but nothing came of it.

Recently, Supreme Court Justice Theodore Or ruled in arbitration over a law suit Zeira had filed against Zamir for slander. Or ruled that Zeira had indeed leaked the name of the agent to the press.

Zamir insisted that "the attorney general should indict Zeira. He has our complaint and he also has the evidence from the ruling of the arbitrator [Or]."

The former Mossad chief also said that, "The tragedy of this case is that the defense and intelligence establishment, including the defense minister and the law enforcement bodies, have proven to be impotent."

According to Zamir the real damage concerns the implications the case has for the future. "There are serious concerns about our ability to recruit quality sources in the future," the spy master said.

THIS CASE PALES IN COMPARISON TO THE SWIFT LEAK AND THE NSA LEAK AND THE RENDITION LEAK.

BUT THE BOTTOM-LINE IS ESSENTIALLY THE SAME: LEAKS HURT INTEL' GATHERING AND RECRUITMENT OF HUMINT AND THEREFORE DIRECTLY HURTS OUR SECURITY.