The Ilan Grapel affair was an alleged Israeli espionage incident in Egypt involving dual U.S.-Israeli citizen Ilan Grapel.

This month there has even been an ugly espionage incident, forcing the two countries to expel senior members of each other's diplomatic corps.

"The prevailing theory at Los Alamos is that it is not an espionage incident," said the congressman, Representative Joe L. Barton, Republican of Texas and chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The United States can be surprisingly open about some of its most shaming espionage incidents.

Law enforcement officials said the investigation of Mr. Grusev began months before the recent espionage incidents that evoked the cold war practice of retaliatory expulsions.

The entire episode has had a strange life of its own, as Administration policy makers, intent on maintaining close and cordial ties with Israel, have made strenuous efforts to isolate the espionage incident from the broader relationship.

There was more controversy in July 2007, when a Ferrari employee, Nigel Stepney was dismissed by Scuderia Ferrari for his involvement in an espionage incident.

He never spoke to the press about the espionage incident, and declined all interviews that were offered to him.

Other espionage incidents also included a failed attempt by a Czechoslovak Intelligence Service (StB) agent in 1959 to poison the salt shakers in the organization's cafeteria.

Mr. Howard's defection came during a rash of espionage incidents.