WASHINGTON —
American investigators launched an espionage investigation of former U.S. diplomat Robin L. Raphel following the interception of a conversation earlier in 2014 in which a Pakistani official suggested that his government was receiving American secrets from a ‘prominent former State Department diplomat’, according to a report in New York Times.
Ms. Raphel was secretly spied upon for months by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and in October, it raided the former diplomat’s residence to discover classified information, the report quoted U.S officials as saying.
She has been stripped of her security clearances last month and no longer has access to the State Department building.
Ms. Raphel, aged 67, is considered one of the leading American experts on Pakistan with a distinguished career spanning four decades. She rose to become one of the highest-ranking female diplomats and a fixture in foreign policy circles, serving as ambassador to Tunisia and as assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs in the Clinton administration.
In 1988, Ms. Raphel’s former husband, Arnold L. Raphel, then the American ambassador to Pakistan, was killed in a mysterious plane crash with the president of Pakistan, Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq.
Ms. Raphel is among a generation of diplomats who rose through the ranks of the State Department at a time when Pakistan was among America’s closest allies and a reliable bulwark against the Soviet Union. After retiring from the government in 2005, she lobbied on behalf of the Pakistani government before accepting a contract to work as a State Department adviser, says the report.
She has has not been charged with a crime. The scope of the investigation is not known, and it is unclear exactly what the Pakistani official said in the intercepted conversation that led to suspicion about Ms. Raphel. It is also not clear whether the conversation was by telephone, email or some other form of communication, adds the report.
