Franklin began his career with the Defense Intelligence Agency in 1979 and also served as an officer in the Air Force Reserves, reaching the rank of Colonel. At the time of his arrest, he was an Iran desk officer in the Pentagon’s Near East and South Asia Bureau.
Beginning in August 2002, he met at least 15 times with Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, lobbyists from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. During these meetings he verbally passed classified information related to Iran, handed over a draft National Security Presidential Directive concerning U.S. policies toward Iran, and faxed them a classified annex to a draft policy document. He also met several times with Naor Gilon, the chief political officer at the Israeli embassy.
According to an FBI affidavit, on June 26th, 2003, Franklin verbally passed them information on a pending attack in Iraq. Rosen immediately relayed this to Gilon. Days later, Franklin’s security clearance was revoked for the remainder of the investigation. He began cooperating with the FBI and met with Rosen and Weissman several more times.
In June 2004, investigators searched Franklin’s home and found 83 classified documents, 37 of which were marked Top Secret.
Franklin pleaded guilty to three charges related to espionage and was initially sentenced to 12 years in prison, which was later reduced to 10 months of house arrest. Charges were dropped against Rosen and Weissman, although both were fired from AIPAC. According to an article in the Guardian, their attorneys intended to call former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other officials to establish that the government regularly used AIPAC to discreetly send information to Israel.
Following his conviction, the Franklins descended into poverty while Lawrence worked a series of odd jobs for low wages including as a parking valet, dishwasher, and furniture mover. According to Newsweek, in October 2020, Franklin and his wife were both hospitalized for several days after eating rotten food he scavenged from a dumpster.