WASHINGTON U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk has been temporarily relieved of his duties for suspected security violations following reports he was "lax" in handling classified material, the State Department said Saturday.
The decision to suspend his security clearance, made Thursday, effectively removes Indyk from his post pending an investigation into the alleged breaches that came to light last month, a senior department official told AFP.
Indyk has returned to Washington where he is "cooperating fully" with the investigation being conducted by the State Department's bureau of diplomatic security and the FBI, the official said.
"Under the regulations, the Department of State is required to suspend Ambassador Indyk's security clearance," a State department spokeswoman said.
In Tel Aviv, a U.S. Embassy spokesman said Indyk, 49, would not return to his post until the end of the inquiry.
Although the investigation is ongoing, both officials in Washington said there was no evidence of spying or that the breaches had resulted in the loss of classified material.
"There is no indication of espionage in this matter," the spokeswoman said.
"At this time, there has been no indication that any intelligence information has been compromised. This is a question of security procedures that have not been followed." Word of the suspected violations came in August "in the process of various investigations," the senior official said, referring to a top-to-bottom security review ordered by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright after an embarrassing series of lapses.
Those include the disappearance earlier this year of a laptop computer containing highly classified information and the discovery last year of a Russian listening device in a conference room which infuriated Albright.