The career and reputation of Robin Raphel, a veteran diplomat and expert on Pakistan, has been put through the grinder over the past year as she was investigated by counterintelligence agents for allegedly spying on the US for Pakistan and passing on classified information. The investigation began when US counterintelligence ‘eavesdropped’ on an unnamed Pakistani official and intercepted a conversation that pointed towards Raphel being a source of American secrets. However, it seems that all the overzealous effort, expense and the public humiliation meted out to Ambassador Raphel was for naught as the investigators scramble to save face after failing to find credible proof of any espionage activity. Raphel now faces the less serious charge of having kept classified information at her residence in a violation of protocol when dealing with such sensitive documents. This is but the latest in a series of espionage investigations brought by US agencies into the public eye only for them to fall flat, and the mishandling of classified information has also become something of a recurring epidemic in the arena of US politics with both presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former director CIA General David Petraeus being two high profile cases who got off lightly for their respective infractions. The lawyers of Robin Raphel are now using the Petraeus precedent and would argue for getting away with only misdemeanour charges. The case of Ms Raphel however does not seem likely to fade away like the aforementioned cases as the investigating parties are pressing for her to be charged under the Espionage Act for keeping the classified documents at her home, a conviction for which will carry a prison sentence lasting years. This is because of the complicated and tense relationship between the country of her origin, the US, and the country she allegedly spies for, Pakistan, and the contours of this case reflect the paranoia amongst US officials about the duplicitous intentions of their long time ally. Robin Raphel has been at the centre of shaping US foreign policy towards Pakistan and has often argued in favour of the Pakistani positions and interests in the various positions of influence she held under the US State Department, and is a much favoured figure in Islamabad due to her sympathetic ear and reliability as a liaison to Washington. It seems clear that she is therefore a victim of the US’s fluctuating attitudes towards Pakistan, as the friendliness Raphel displayed towards Pakistan was part of the then-official policy of rapprochement with Pakistan and now that the administration in the US has become disillusioned with Pakistan’s attitude towards militant groups, they view anyone who played an advocate for Pakistan with suspicion. A fine, decades-long career has been ruined because of the internal contradictions of US foreign policy and the swing of the political pendulum. *