Suspected of Espionage
(Room JW Grand Ballroom 3/4)
05 Jul 18
4:30 PM
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5:45 PM
For David Tenenbaum, an Orthodox Jew, life has not been the same since February of 1997. That's when he was suspended from his job as an engineer at the U.S. Army's Tank Automotive and Armaments Command, in Warren, Mich., and the media reported that he was suspected of being a spy for Israel. Some investigators saw him as another Jonathan Pollard, a Navy analyst serving a life term for spying for Israel in the 1980s. Mr. Tenenbaum was interrogated at length by the FBI and Army intelligence, polygraphed, placed under 24-hour surveillance, and had his home searched. Items seized by the FBI included his child’s drawing of some Hebrew letters, which the FBI suspected to be a coded message. After more than a year of investigation, the U.S. Attorney declined to prosecute, stating, “There is no question that if evidence existed which would prove this case, then these agents would have found it.” Mr. Tenenbaum returned to work, and his security clearance was eventually restored. Yet despite having never been charged, some of his colleagues still shunned him, fearing guilt by association and/or believing that he was in fact … a traitor. We will explore what Mr. Tenenbaum actually did to merit such intense scrutiny and, more important, if the investigation was motivated by prejudice.