BS”D
The rumor about Pollard is that the E”Y intelligence service then traded what they got from Pollard with the USSR in exchange for a few Soviet Jews (which of course was worthless as soon afterward the USSR collapsed – but if EY intelligence could not figure out that the USSR was dying back then it shows us how much of a ness the collapse of the USSR really was). I don’t know if that is true or not. What I do know is that at the time Pollard was married to a non-Jew (hardly the pattern for someone who cares about E”Y) and received cash and a ring for his services. That makes me think that he would have sold the secrets to anyone but E”Y was the easiest party to deal with.
Still, there are many questions – and I agree with Wolf that pidyon shevuim means a commutation and not a pardon in this case. Indeed he and Madoff are both as deserving of a pardon – but Madoff should live out his natural life in prison and be forced to disgorge all of his ill gotten profits so as to make restitution whereas Pollard’s sentence does seem excessive. And, if he really did sell secrets directly to others, I think we would have concrete information about this, or even an article from a credible journalist, and not just rumors.
I would have no trouble with the US making a deal where Pollard would be freed and immediately stripped of his citizenship and rights to even visit the US again and for EY to take him in.