Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) -- An 85-year-old New Jersey man who once had access to a U.S. Army library pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to pass on nuclear and other military secrets to Israel a quarter-century ago.

Ben-Ami Kadish entered the plea today in Manhattan federal court after admitting he took classified files from a U.S. Army research center at the Picatinny Arsenal in Dover, New Jersey. The conspiracy stretched from 1979 to 1985.

“Did you provide those documents for the benefit of Israel?” U.S. Magistrate Judge Theodore Katz asked Kadish at today’s hearing. “Yes,” Kadish said.

Kadish was accused in April of leaking information about nuclear weaponry and the F-15 Eagle fighter aircraft used by the U.S. Air Force. Kadish, who faces as long as five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge William Pauley on Feb. 13.

The government dropped three other counts as part of the plea deal. Kadish faced possible life imprisonment or the death penalty if he had been convicted of the four original counts, according to the Justice Department. Kadish was free on a $300,000 bond after being charged in April.

Kadish declined to comment after the hearing. A call to the Israeli consulate in New York wasn’t returned.

Kadish allegedly gave the secrets to the same Israeli consulate official who worked with convicted spy Jonathan Pollard. The co-conspirator allegedly photographed secret documents in Kadish’s basement.

Pollard’s Life Sentence

Pollard, an ex-U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, is serving a life sentence for his 1987 conviction for spying for Israel. The case became a sticking point in U.S.-Israel relations during negotiations for the Middle East peace plan signed in 1998.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sought Pollard’s release. U.S. President Bill Clinton agreed to review the case, though he later declined to grant clemency.

Kadish leaked as many as 100 documents to the accomplice, who worked as consul for science affairs at the Israeli embassy in New York from 1980 to 1985, prosecutors said. The accomplice, who told Kadish what documents he wanted, moved to Israel in 1985 and never returned to the U.S., according to the government.

Kadish, a mechanical engineer, was born in 1923 and lives in Monroe Township, New Jersey, according to property and voter- registration records.

He got a security clearance in 1963 and agreed in the late 1970s to provide the alleged accomplice with classified documents “that would help protect Israel,” according to the complaint. He met the accomplice through his brother, according to the complaint. The brother and the accomplice worked at Israel Aircraft Industries, a defense contractor, the U.S. said.

The case is U.S. v. Ben-Ami Kadish, 08-mag-881, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 30, 2008 14:24 EST