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The heads of the American intelligence community drafted their opinion on the [Pollard] affair in a classified document that came out in a letter from the head of the CIA to Clinton [time frame around 1995-6]. The document summarizes the stubborn opposition to Pollard's release claiming:

1. Pollard is still a walking library of secret information. What he has in his head can cause damage.

2. Pollard is light headed and would easily become talkative if he were released.

3. American intelligence experts believe there is another Israeli spy in the system, far senior to Pollard, and think that Pollard knows this person's identity. After Pollard was arrested the FBI and naval intelligence officers found tiny pieces of paper concealed in Pollard desk. The papers had lists of classified documents that Pollard was ordered to obtain. The lists included a series of letters used to describe the documents and the right code names for them. This is the main reason that the Americans suspect that the Israelis had another agent who could not transfer the classified documents but did know enough to describe their file numbers.

4. The Americans claim that Israel has still not returned all the material that Pollard transferred, and in addition also want to question Aviam Sela (The Israeli air force officer implicated in the affair).

5. Pollard continued to distribute classified material from jail. To prove this the American Justice Department bought as an example a letter Pollard sent to Dr. Julian Unger in 1987. Despite a warning Pollard did it again in 1991.

6. The deterrence factor: Why should Pollard be punished less than other spies?

7. The Americans claim that the argument that Pollard spied for a friendly country does not hold water since there was a danger of him spying under a "false flag" - in other words spying for another country for agents who represented themselves as Israelis.

8. The Americans claim they have proof that Pollard offered his services to other countries.

9. The Americans claim that estimates from Israel and Pollard on the amount of damage he caused and the supposed disproportion between the punishment and crime are spurious lies.

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