WASHINGTON – A family foundation linked to President Joe Biden’s senior director of cyber policy at the White House National Security Council has donated more than half a million dollars in recent years to the main pro-Israel lobbying group in Washington, according to public records .
The donations, first reported by David Corn of Mother Jones magazine, do not appear to be a legal issue, but some current and former national security officials told NBC News that they risk creating the possible appearance of bias in favor of Israel by a senior American official. Although Israel is a close American ally, it operates in its own interest and aggressively spies on the United States, including the use of cyber resources, current and former officials say.
Other current and former officials disagreed, saying they did not think donations were a problem.
The lobby group, the Israel Public Relations Committee, or AIPAC, describes itself as an “American bipartisan organization that advocates a strong relationship between the United States and Israel”. Most Republicans and many Democrats are close allies to the group, while other Democrats are not.
The employee, Anne Neuberger, was recently appointed senior director of cyber policy for the National Security Council. She spent the last decade at the National Security Agency, the Pentagon’s digital espionage arm, where she worked her way up in the rank to become head of a newly created cybersecurity directorate.
Neuberger did not immediately respond to emails and phone messages.
A National Security Council spokeswoman declined to answer detailed questions on the matter, saying: “As a senior NSC employee, Ms. Neuberger will obey the Executive Order of Ethical Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel.”
It is not clear that Neuberger would have to disclose his family foundation’s contributions as part of his ethics or security clearance reviews – so it is not known whether Biden’s team examined the donations. Although donations are listed on public tax forms available on the web, some effort is needed to locate them.
Daughter of billionaire investor George Karfunkel, Neuberger is the director of a foundation named after her and her husband, the Yehuda Foundation and Anne Neuberger.
The foundation was created 12 years ago to “carry out the charitable and religious purposes of the Baltimore Associated Jewish Community Federation”, according to its tax records. Neither Neuberger nor her husband received any compensation from the nonprofit.
From 2012 to 2018 – the last year for which the foundation’s tax records are available – the Neuberger Foundation donated $ 559,000 to AIPAC, proof of tax registration. In a separate part of the forms, the foundation reports expenditures that exact amounts of its AIPAC donations in the lobby spending category “to influence a legislative body” or “to influence public opinion”. A nonprofit charity foundation can donate to a lobbying organization if the amount is a limited percentage of its overall donation.
A group of intelligence officials and former intelligence officials and foreign policy experts – none of whom wanted to be identified – said the donations had created an appearance problem. They noted that Israel, whose companies build and sell espionage equipment for regimes abroad and whose intelligence agencies invade foreign governments around the world, has a large share in American cyber policy.
Two of the interviewed sources who know Neuberger say she is a person of high integrity. However, the installation of a senior cyber officer in the White House with strong ties to an organization that represents the interests of the Israeli government may cause some people to question the impartiality of the political process, they said.
“If you donate half a million dollars to a lobbying group, that indicates a very strong preference,” said a senior congressman who oversees national security issues.
“One question this raises is whether she would refuse to make decisions that could impact Israel,” said a foreign policy expert closely linked to Biden’s team.
The donations “would raise a lot of eyebrows inside and outside the government,” said a former senior intelligence official, “especially since the two dimensions involved – Israel and cyberspace – have their own history”.
A second former senior intelligence officer added, “Is that disqualifying? Probably not. But it’s not a good one.”
A current intelligence officer and a congressional aide disagreed, saying that donations alone are not problematic because AIPAC is a dominant organization and Israel is an ally.
The Trump administration emphasized its close alignment with the Israeli government, moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and severing relations with Palestinian officials. The Biden government announced its intention to restore relations with the Palestinians.
Although the Neuberger Foundation’s donations to AIPAC have not been reported previously, the news details her husband’s role as chairman of AIPAC’s executive board in Baltimore. In 2011, Rabbi Steven Weil, executive vice president of the Orthodox Union, welcomed his “excellent reputation as leader of AIPAC”. Four years later, as part of a combined AIPAC effort, Yehuda Neuberger lobbied Senator Ben Cardin, D-Md., To oppose the multilateral nuclear deal with Iran that the Obama White House had negotiated.
According to The Wall Street Journal, US intelligence agencies have determined that Israel has spied on negotiations between the US and its allies over the nuclear deal with Iran in an effort to stop it.
AIPAC has long been haunted by criticism that it operates as a virtual arm of the Israeli government. In 2009, the Justice Department decided to drop the espionage charges against two AIPAC officials who had been accused of spying for Israel. The authorities cited court decisions that they said made the case invincible and fear that the trial would reveal confidential information.
An AIPAC spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.