Anti-Semitism

Pentagon: We thought engineer was Israeli spy because he's a Jew

By Ofra Edelman, Haaretz Correspondent, and The Associated Press

(Left: David Tenenbaum, age 43, of Southfield, Michigan, is the Orthodox Jew who was accused of betraying United States military secrets to the Israelis back in 1997. (Detroit Free Press, via newscom.com) .)

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1008704.html

Wed., August 06, 2008 Av 5, 5768

The Pentagon has admitted in an internal report that it wrongly accused an army engineer from Michigan of spying for Israel because he was a Jew.

David Tenenbaum of Southfield is an Orthodox Jew and fluent in Hebrew. The Defense Department put him on paid leave in 1997 while it and the FBI investigated his ties to Israel.

He eventually was cleared of leaking military secrets, but says he has been vindicated by the report.

Tenenbaum was hired as an engineer by the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) in Warren, Michigan. The Pentagon report said Tenenbaum's knowledge of Hebrew made him a more attractive candidate, since it would facilitate working with Israel on various joint military projects, the Free Press reported.

"It was well known that Mr. Tenenbaum was Jewish, lived his religious beliefs and by his actions appeared to have a close affinity for Israel," the Pentagon report, which was released three weeks ago, said. "We believe that Mr. Tenenbaum was subjected to unusual and unwelcome scrutiny because of his faith and ethnic background, a practice that would undoubtedly fit a definition of discrimination."

In 2000, Tenenbaum filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government, accusing it of employing "Naziesque" surveillance methods against Jews, according to the Detroit Free Press. Tenenbaum, who had sought more than $20 million in damages, said he was the subject of a federal investigation that "literally terrorized" him and his family, according to the Free Press.

Tenenbaum's lawyer told the Free Press that the investigation led the Army to shelve his client's Humvee armor project in 1995, a move that he said cost the lives of ill-equipped American soldiers deployed in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tenenbaum still works at the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command in Warren. He told the Detroit Free Press he wants an apology from the Army and his accusers punished.

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The Detroit News
Oakland County

Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Southfield

Pentagon affirms that man's faith led to spy accusations

Army employee was suspected of working for Israel because he was Jewish, a report says.

Gregg Krupa / The Detroit News
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080805/METRO02/808050351

SOUTHFIELD -- A report from the Office of Inspector General of the Pentagon affirms what David Tenenbaum tried to tell people for 11 years: that being a Jew led to the false suspicions he was a spy for Israel.

During an investigation, including interrogations by the FBI in 1997, Tenenbaum was publicly suspected of providing classified information to Israel while he worked for the Tank Automotive and Armaments Command in Warren. Subsequently, the U.S. Department of Justice said it did not have evidence to prosecute, and Tenenbaum retrieved his security clearance -- at a higher level. But his lawsuit, aimed at establishing that he was wrongly suspected from the start, in part, because of discrimination, was rejected by federal courts.

"It is kind of hard to get back a reputation," Tenenbaum said. "When I came back to work in 1998, I was told by high-level people that my career was over. What I have seen is that was true."

Now, Tenenbaum has a 62-page report from the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Defense declaring that he "was subjected to unusual and unwelcome scrutiny because of his faith and ethnic background."

The report was issued July 13 after U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, intervened.

Early newspaper reports of the accusations against Tenenbaum were published based on legal documents that federal officials later said should have been kept under seal.

"He's gone through hell," said lawyer Mayer Morganroth. "He still works for TACOM but they don't give him any meaningful assignments, anymore."

The inspector general's report includes an extensive appendix on a program that Tenenbaum had started to make Humvees and other equipment safer for soldiers. The lack of armor in the Humvees has been criticized as causing casualties during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in which roadside bombs are frequently used.

When he was targeted, Tenenbaum and his lawyers say, the program was closed and never restarted.

"I knew there was a problem and I was working on it," Tenenbaum said. "The Department of Defense is going to have to explain why, when they knew there was a problem, no one was working on it."

Officials of the Department of Defense issued no comment Monday on Tenenbaum's assertions.

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ABC News
Law & Justice

Army Engineer Cleared of Spying for Israel

Pentagon Report: Tenenbaum Wrongly Accused of Spying for Israel

http://www.abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=5516449&page=1
August 5, 2008

DETROIT (AP) - An Army engineer from Michigan says he's been vindicated by an internal Pentagon report that says he was wrongly accused of spying for Israel.

David Tenenbaum of Southfield is an Orthodox Jew and fluent in Hebrew. The Defense Department put him on paid leave in 1997 while it and the FBI investigated his ties to Israel. He eventually was cleared of leaking military secrets.

The Defense Department's Inspector General Office reported three weeks ago that Tenenbaum "was subjected to unusual and unwelcome scrutiny because of his faith and ethnic background."

Tenenbaum still works at the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command in Warren. He told the Detroit Free Press he wants an apology from the Army and his accusers punished.

Labels: American Jews, Antisemitism in America, Pentagon, United States antisemitism