The US State department has suspended the security clearance of US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, pending an investigation into suspected security violations, the Washington Post reported Saturday.
The daily said the suspension prevents Indyk, 49, from handling classified materials and requires him to be escorted into the State Department building in Washington.
State Department officials told the Post that there was no evidence of espionage, and no reason to suspect that classified information had been compromised.
The breach reportedly entailed "the sloppy handling of classified information" over a longer period of time.
Indyk, who returned to the United States earlier this month and who remains in the country while the investigation is taking place, issued a two-paragraph statement through his lawyer promising to cooperate with the probe.
"Jeopardizing the national security interests of the United States is absolutely abhorrent to me, and I would never do anything to compromise those interests," he said, according to the daily – WASHINGTON (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
