A TIME report by a foreign affairs expert ponders over the consequences of releasing convicted spy Jonathan Pollard. Talks about his release after being incarcerated for 30 years had made the news as the White House is planning to involve the spy to further its peace talks with the Mideast. Pollard is currently in prison in Butner, North Carolina after his arrest in 1985 for stealing classified documents and turning them over to Israeli handlers, CBS News said.
The 59 year-old former US Navy civilian intelligence analyst has reportedly been seeking executive clemency from two former US presidents during their term, but was both denied. Rumors about his impending release went up a notch when a member and parole commission administrator Stephen Husk of the US Parole Commission has been quoted by CBS that Pollard had waived a scheduled parole hearing, which was held where he is currently detained. US Parole Commission had also said that the hearing has been rescheduled for Tuesday.
Israel, who has long seen the Jewish, American-born spy as a hero, could heed to the US' demands to release more Palestinian prisoners, CBS said.
Although a lot of politicians and industry players oppose to the idea of Pollard's early release, counselor Dennis Ross at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy said in his report that US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry could might as well release Pollard for the sake of the beleaguered peace talks.
Ross said that Pollard's release outweigh the supposed threat to national security and the message it would send out to the American people. For one, he pointed out that Pollard's arrest will not matter to majority of the voting public, who were at one point not born or were in their young years when the spy was arrested. Second, Ross argued that Pollard's incarceration will equate to the amount of time the US government will introduce new or amend existing measures to ensure stealing of state secrets will no longer happen. Moreover, Ross said that spending 30 years in jail for spying is a potent deterrent for people in the government to not spy against their country.
"At a time when the Middle East is characterized by upheaval and US foreign policy needs to demonstrate effectiveness, we can ill afford a collapse of the current efforts to negotiate between Israelis and Palestinians," Ross wrote.
