--- title: Dennis Ross: Jonathan Pollard Release Seems Justified description: It surely makes little sense to say that someone who has spent nearly 30 years in jail has not paid a severe price. canonical: https://time.com/45651/pollard-release-seems-justified/ author: Dennis Ross article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-01T18:41:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:45:35.563Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Dennis Ross: Pollard Release Seems Justified og:description: It surely makes little sense to say that someone who has spent nearly 30 years in jail has not paid a severe price. og:url: https://time.com/45651/pollard-release-seems-justified/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Dennis Ross: Pollard Release Seems Justified twitter:description: It surely makes little sense to say that someone who has spent nearly 30 years in jail has not paid a severe price. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Pollard Release Seems Justified > Sponsored content. 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[Watch (HLS stream): Why Is Jonathan Pollard Back in the News?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zybkPZuz.m3u8) (2:30)  _Published 2014-04-01. President Obama is reportedly considering an early release from prison for Jonathan Pollard, an Israeli agent who spied on the U.S., to revive peace talks with Palestine._ by [Dennis Ross](https://time.com/author/dennis-ross/) ## Dennis Ross Apr 1, 2014 6:41 PM UTC by [Dennis Ross](https://time.com/author/dennis-ross/) ## Dennis Ross Apr 1, 2014 6:41 PM UTC It is no surprise that Jonathan Pollard has become part of the discussions in the current Israeli-Palestinian peace discussions. In every administration I was a part of — and every negotiation in which I participated — he was raised by Israeli prime ministers. From Rabin through Netanyahu, one thing could be counted on: Pollard would be raised. We may view him as a spy; Israelis view him differently. He has taken on the aura of being a soldier who was left in the field, and the ethos in Israel is that soldiers are never left behind. As someone who is Jewish and who also worked in the Pentagon in the 1980’s, I had no sympathy for Pollard. He stole top-secret documents; he betrayed his country and the trust put in him; he was caught and it was appropriate that he pay a price for what he had done. I felt strongly about that. To be sure, I had more personal reasons for feeling an additional sense of betrayal. At the time, I was contending with a prejudice that lingered in the national security bureaucracy that in not so subtle ways suggested that anyone who was Jewish could not work on Middle Eastern issues because they would serve Israeli as opposed to American interests — a view typically held by those who also defined U.S. and Israeli interests as being at odds. So I had good reasons for believing that Pollard should be punished. And, I still believe that. But what constitutes sufficient punishment? As Israeli prime ministers would raise his case and explain how if they were going to take difficult steps toward peace, his release could make those steps more politically sustainable — and Presidents starting with Clinton would consider these requests — I heard the intelligence community make arguments for holding him that made little sense: If we released him to Israel, he would still be able to compromise our security. If he was released, it would signal we were soft on spies. If we released him, there would be no deterrent for spying. If we released him, it would damage the morale of the intelligence services. Perhaps, five or even 10 years after his imprisonment he might still know things about our intelligence that could have some value, but nearly 30 years afterwards, what could still be of relevance? During one discussion I had in the Clinton administration when this came up, I said even then — at a point when Pollard had been in prison for 13 years — that if he could still compromise our intelligence, those responsible on our side should be fired. They had a responsibility to change the way we did business. Clearly, we altered our techniques and means when our security was compromised and we had suffered other security breaches and had to imprison other spies. Whether one accepts the argument that Pollard’s sentence seems more severe than that handed out to other spies, it surely makes little sense to say that someone who has spent nearly 30 years in jail has not paid a severe price. Thirty years in jail does not signal being soft on spies; it constitutes a potent deterrent against spying. And, at this point, when looking at the demographic make-up of those in the intelligence community, a significant percentage either were not born or were very young when Pollard was incarcerated. It seems unlikely that morale is going to be affected by his release. If traditional arguments in the intelligence community bear little weight at this point, there is still the question of whether we should link the peace issue to Pollard. Some may say that if he is so politically important, we should get something of value for his release. Perhaps, but at a time when the Middle East is characterized by upheaval and U.S. foreign policy needs to demonstrate effectiveness, we can ill afford a collapse of the current efforts to negotiate between Israelis and Palestinians. If the release is part of a package of steps that not only manages this process but can give it a necessary boost — and also affect the climate between Israelis and Palestinians — then President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry certainly seem justified in acting on it. _Dennis Ross is the William Davidson Distinguished Fellow and counselor at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He served as the Director of Policy Planning in the State Department under President George H. W. Bush, the special Middle East coordinator under President Bill Clinton, and was a special assistant to President Obama from 2009-2011._ ## Transcript Jonathan Pollard has been in federal prison for almost three decades, but his freedom could be the bargaining chip needed to salvage what's left of the Israeli and Palestinian peace talks. Reports this week suggest President Obama is considering an early release from prison for Pollard, who was sentenced for life in 1985 and has been in prison ever since. But who is Jonathan Pollard and what are his crimes? And what does he have to do with Israeli peace talks? Pollard was an intelligence analyst with the US Navy in the 1980s. But in 1985, he was arrested on espionage charges for passing classified US information to Israel in exchange for cash A New York Times article notes, Mr. Pollard stole more top secret documents than almost any other spy in American history. After his arrest, Pollard accepted a plea deal. It's a one count of conspiracy to commit espionage. And in return Pollard would not receive life in prison. A U. S. federal judge rejected the plea agreement, and did sentence Pollard to life, siting the enormous damage to U. S. national security. According to an Israeli newspaper, Pollard is the only person in the U. S. history to receive a life sentence. Sentence for spying for an ally and the only American citizen convicted of such a crime to be sentenced to more than ten years in prison. Pollard's imprisonment has been a point of contention for U. S. Israeli relations for as long as he's been in prison. Back in 1998, during his first term, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested Pollard from former President Bill Clinton. That request was rejected, due to major pressure from intelligence officials, including CIA director at the time, who vowed to resign if Pollard was released. Which brings us to today. Multiple reports say President Obama is considering Pollard's release despite this controversial history. But as you might imagine, the White House is not discussing the issue. With regards to Mister Pollard, he is a, a person who was convicted of espionage and is serving his sentence. And I don't have any update on his situation. If the White House is not considering clemency for the convicted spy, it's going to need something to move along the peace talks. Time's Michael Crowley reports, Netanyahu agreed to release dozens of Palestinian prisoners. But has yet to do so. Netanyahu has no desire to set free he see as violent criminals, only to see the talks peter out at the end of April, with nothing to show for the domestically unpopular action. But the clock is ticking on this potential deal. Pollard is 59 years old and is said to be in poor health, he's also eligible for parole in November 2015. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/45651/pollard-release-seems-justified/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/45651/pollard-release-seems-justified/"},"headline":"Pollard Release Seems Justified","datePublished":"2014-04-01T18:41:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:45:35.563Z","description":"It surely makes little sense to say that someone who has spent nearly 30 years in jail has not paid a severe price.","url":"https://time.com/45651/pollard-release-seems-justified/","keywords":["foreign affairs","Israel","Middle East","spy"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dennis Ross","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/dennis-ross/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/foreign-affairs/","name":"foreign affairs"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/45651/pollard-release-seems-justified/","name":"Pollard Release Seems Justified"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Why Is Jonathan Pollard Back in the News?","description":"President Obama is reportedly considering an early release from prison for Jonathan Pollard, an Israeli agent who spied on the U.S., to revive peace talks with Palestine.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/zybkPZuz/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-04-01T20:01:52.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zybkPZuz.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/45651/pollard-release-seems-justified/","duration":"PT2M30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/45651/pollard-release-seems-justified/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```