On June 27,
2012, the FBI partially declassified and released seven additional pages from a
1985-2002 investigation into how a network of front companies connected to the
Israeli Ministry of Defense illegally smuggled nuclear triggers out of the U.S.
The newly released FBI files detail how Richard Kelly Smyth - who was convicted
of running a U.S. front company - met with Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel during
the smuggling operation. At that time, Netanyahu worked at the Israeli node of
the smuggling network, Heli Trading Company. Netanyahu, who currently serves as
Israel’s Prime Minister, recently issued a gag order that the smuggling
network’s unindicted ringleader refrain from discussing “Project
Pinto.”
As revealed in
previously released FBI files and the tell-all book Confidential: The Life of
Secret Agent Turned Hollywood Tycoon Arnon Milchan, the Hollywood producer was
recruited into Israel’s economic espionage division (LAKAM) in his 20s and
learned how to establish front companies and secret bank accounts for smuggling
operations. Arnon Milchan encouraged Smyth, a California engineer, to
incorporate MILCO in 1972 and serve as a front for the Israel-based Heli
Trading’s (also known as Milchan Limited) acquisitions of sensitive military
technologies on behalf of the Ministry of Defense. Smyth fled the U.S. after
being indicted for violating the Arms Export Control Act in the mid-1980s. In
July 2001, Smyth was arrested in Spain by Interpol and returned to the U.S., and
in November, he was convicted of exporting 800 nuclear triggers called
krytrons.
FBI agents
interviewed Smyth on April 16-17, 2002, at the U.S. attorney’s office in Los
Angeles. The secret interview report details how during a trip to Israel Smyth
was “spotted” by Milchan, who claimed he worked as an exclusive purchasing agent
for the Ministry of Defense. Smyth was introduced around to high military
officials including then-general Ariel Sharon. Smyth was also put in contact
with Benjamin Netanyahu, who worked at Heli Trading Company. According to the
FBI report, “Smyth and [Netanyahu] would meet in restaurants in Tel Aviv and in
[Netanyahu's] home and/or business. It was not uncommon for [Netanyahu] to ask
Smyth for unclassified material.”
Milchan pulled
Smyth into his glamorous, star-studded movie circuit. “While in the United
States [Smyth] met with [Milchan] numerous times in Los Angeles. … Milchan and
Smyth would have dinner frequently and would visit one another’s house often …
it was quite common for [Milchan] to invite [Smyth] to various Hollywood parties
and introduce [Smyth] to celebrities.”
During the 2002
Smyth counterintelligence debriefing, the FBI learned that the Ministry of
Defense ordered and paid Heli Trading for krytrons. Heli in turn sourced them
from MILCO in a clandestine operation codenamed Project Pinto. The report
reveals how MILCO illegally shipped prohibited articles under general Commerce
Department export licenses rather than smuggling them out via Israeli diplomatic
pouches. The last time Smyth saw Milchan was in 1985. The Ministry of Defense
issued a burn notice on Smyth after discussions with U.S. officials about the
krytron smuggling. According to the FBI report, “Shortly thereafter, [Smyth]
fled the United States.”
A March 2012
statement by the co-authors of Confidential claims that “Hollywood mega-producer
and former secret agent Arnon Milchan has been asked directly by Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres to avoid any public
discussion of the book Confidential, asserting that the matter is too sensitive
at this time.” Netanyahu’s own hands-on involvement in nuclear weapons-related
covert action against America is presumably a far more compelling reason for the
gag order. Antiwar
AHT/ARA
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