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Report: CIA Head Threatened to Quit Over Possible Pollard Release
NEW YORK (AP) -- The director of the Central Intelligence Agency threatened to quit if President Clinton agreed to release convicted spy Jonathan Pollard as part of the Middle East peace accord, The New York Times reported today.

George Tenet made the warning after learning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made Pollard's case a key bargaining point in the peace talks, the Times said, citing administration sources.

Tenet and a CIA spokesman both declined comment to the newspaper.

Pollard, 44, a former Naval intelligence officer, is serving a life sentence at a North Carolina prison for handing over thousands of top secret documents to Israel in 1984 and 1985. Some papers reportedly contained information about Soviet weapons used by Israel's Arab opponents.

Netanyahu told Clinton during recent talks in Wye Mills, Md., that he needed Pollard's release in order to win support for the peace agreement from the right wing of his governing coalition, the Times reported.

Clinton eventually turned down Netanyahu's request.

U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agents dismiss claims that Pollard was acting on behalf of a friendly nation. The Times said Tenet threatened to resign because he believed he would lose credibility within the CIA.
 

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