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The recent revelation that U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee met privately with convicted spy Jonathan Pollard should alarm every American who believes this country must come first. Pollard’s espionage severely damaged U.S. intelligence operations. That is not speculation — it is the assessment of Reagan-era national security officials who reviewed the classified damage.
For decades after Pollard’s conviction, successive Israeli governments launched sustained and aggressive lobbying campaigns to secure his release. They pressed U.S. presidents, cabinet officials, and members of Congress, applying years of diplomatic pressure that ran directly counter to the clear judgment of U.S. intelligence agencies: releasing Pollard would harm American security and weaken the consequences for one of the most damaging spy cases in modern history.
It is against this backdrop that Huckabee chose to hold an off-the-books embassy meeting with Pollard — outside normal channels and without informing the intelligence personnel working in the same building. No American ambassador should signal sympathy toward someone whose actions inflicted such profound harm on the United States, especially after decades of foreign pressure tied to his case.
If an ambassador secretly met with a spy for Russia or China, he would likely already be removed. Our standards cannot change depending on which foreign government benefited from the betrayal.
President Donald Trump should fire Huckabee immediately. America needs diplomats who put U.S. interests — and only U.S. interests — first.
Michael Capeci
Bangor
