And Larry Franklin officially pleads.

Also today, Larry Franklin officially pleads guilty in the Franklin/AIPAC spy ring. I guess we can call it a spy ring. Franklin took classified documents, transferred them to AIPAC employees Weissman and Rosen who allegedly then transferred them to an official with a foreign government.(as yet not officially specified by the prosecutors if you can believe that.) It's just that in all the big media coverage of this thing, the phrase "spy ring" is very carefully avoided.

Anyhow, the bones of the case are

According to the indictment, Franklin met periodically with Rosen and Weissman between 2002 and 2004 and discussed classified information, including information about potential attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq.

Rosen and Weissman would subsequently share what they learned with reporters and Israeli officials. On at least one occasion, Franklin spoke directly to an Israeli official.

Rosen, a top lobbyist for Washington-based AIPAC for more than 20 years, and Weissman, the organization's top Iran expert, allegedly disclosed sensitive information as far back as 1999 on a variety of topics, including al-Qaida, terrorist activities in Central Asia, the bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia and U.S. policy in Iran, according to the indictment.

Franklin at one time worked for the Pentagon's No. 3 official, policy undersecretary Douglas Feith, on issues involving Iran and the Middle East.

Sounds like a spy ring to me, but what do I know?