The Armageddon Network

Non-fiction book by Michael Saba ( Learn how and when to remove this message ) The Armageddon Network is a non-fiction book by Michael Saba about possible espionage in the United States government for the state of Israel. The author sheds light on a handful of U.S. government officials seemingly using their positions to benefit Israel. The title, The Armageddon Network, refers to this group of people and the possible threat they pose to "U.S. national security and world peace". On March 9, 1978, Michael Saba was waiting to meet someone in the coffee shop of the Madison Hotel in Washington D.C.. As he sat reading a newspaper, the three Hebrew-speaking men, later identified as Israeli officials, sitting at an adjacent table were joined by a fourth who was introduced as "Stephen Bryen of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee ". What he overheard soon led to an FBI investigation, and took Saba "down a path of inquiry which would reveal to me the activities of a small group of influential U.S. policy-makers who used their positions to shape American policy - regardless of the economic and strategic costs - so as to favor the military interests of the Israeli Government." The conversation between Stephen Bryen and the Israeli officials covered the following subjects: The West Bank : Bryen advised the Israelis that to win U.S. support for annexation of the West Bank they should make the case in terms of national security rather than on biblical grounds. U.S. armaments and jet fighters: How to prevent Israel's Arab enemies from acquiring them and how to get more for Israel. Bryen advised the Israelis that some sort of bargain in the National Security Council needed to be struck in order to prevent a proposed sale of F-15s to Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Israel's capacity to build their own aircraft. Military bases: Bryen offered to show the Israelis "the Pentagon document on the bases, which you are welcome to see". This remark would put Bryen under suspicion of passing secret documents to a foreign power and became a primary focus of the following FBI investigation. The document concerned was a titled "DOD Analysis of Saudi Request to Purchase f-15 Fighter Aircraft" and was stamped "Secret -- NoForn" meaning it was secret and not to be shown to foreigners. Among other things, it contained details about the new Saudi Arabian airbase at Tabuk . Bryen eventually admitted to making the offer to the Israelis but claimed he intended only to show them an unclassified summary of the document. On April 1, 1978 the Associated Press broke the story about Stephen Bryen's meeting with the Israeli officials. Five days later the Washington Post mentioned the affair and noted that Bryen was leaving his position at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in order to "prepare for his upcoming wedding." Saba is later informed by a reporter that Bryen didn't actually leave his job with the committee until February 9, 1979 when he took a position with the Coalition for a Democratic Majority . Bryen's career up till then had been spent on the Republican side of the aisle.¹