--- updated: 2026-10-12 aliases: - Caspar W. Weinberger category: "Intelligence & Government" tags: - Person - Nuclear - Israel - Military summary: "Secretary of Defense under Reagan whose military aide Lieutenant Colonel Higgins was abducted in Lebanon in 1988 with deep knowledge of classified matters." born: 1917-08-18 died: 2006-03-28 location: "San Francisco, California" --- Caspar W. Weinberger (1917-2006) was an American politician and businessman who served as the Secretary of Defense under President [[Ronald Reagan]] from 1981 to 1987. He was a key figure in the Reagan administration's military buildup during the [[Cold War]][^1]. [[William Richard Higgins]], a Marine Lieutenant Colonel who was abducted in [[Lebanon]] in 1988, had served as a military aide to Weinberger from June 1985 until he went to Lebanon in June 1987. Higgins's in-depth knowledge of classified military matters, gained during his time with Weinberger, made him a high-value hostage[^1]. ### Osirak Caspar Weinberger served as the Secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan. Following the Israeli bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor at [[Osirak bombing]] in June 1981, Weinberger proposed canceling the F-16 aircraft sale to [[Israel]] as a sanction. However, President Reagan privately disagreed with this course of action.[^2] ### Pollard Sentencing Declarations In the [[Jonathan Pollard]] prosecution Weinberger submitted a classified declaration cataloguing the damage Pollard had done. The 1992 appellate opinion describes it as opining that the damage had been "substantial and irrevocable."[^3] The day before sentencing, Weinberger submitted an unclassified supplemental declaration responding to Pollard's sentencing memoranda. It is dated March 3, 1987.[^4] In that declaration he wrote that "it is difficult for me, even in the so-called 'year of the spy,' to conceive of a greater harm to national security than that caused by the defendant." He argued that "the punishment imposed should reflect the perfidy of the individual's actions, the magnitude of the treason committed, and the needs of national security." He also stated that Pollard's "loyalty to Israel transcends his loyalty to the United States." He wrote that when confronted with a polygraph examination on February 25, 1987, Pollard acknowledged that he had either provided or confirmed certain information in a February 15, 1987 *Washington Post* article by talking to a journalist.[^4] Judge Williams, dissenting in 1992, wrote that the repeated use of superlatives in the Weinberger memoranda "implied an appeal for the maximum."[^3] In a letter of December 21, 2010 to President [[Barack Obama]], former Attorney General [[Michael Mukasey]] described the submission of the Weinberger affidavits, "seeking a heavier sentence than requested by the prosecutors despite Pollard's guilty plea and cooperation," as "deeply disturbing."[^5] ### Footnotes [^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017. [^2]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. [^3]: *United States v. Pollard*, 959 F.2d 1011 (D.C. Cir. 1992), No. 90-3276, decided March 20, 1992. https://static.case.law/f2d/959/cases/1011-01.json [^4]: Supplemental Declaration of Caspar W. Weinberger, Secretary of Defense, *United States v. Jonathan Jay Pollard*, Crim. No. 86-0207 (D.D.C.), executed March 3, 1987. http://www.irmep.org/ila/pollard/03041987weinberger.pdf [^5]: Michael B. Mukasey to President Barack Obama, December 21, 2010. https://www.israellobby.org/pollard/12212010Mukasey.pdf