Who are the "neo-cons"?

Nicholas Kristoff has an interesting editorial in the 2/07/04 NY Times - Secret Obsessions at the Top - discussing how agendas can affect intelligence. In it he notes:

When a country's capital is in the grip of hard-line ideologues who demand a certain kind of intelligence, they'll get it. The result is an intelligence failure. And, more fundamentally, it's a political failure by the top leaders themselves.

Finally, we hearing the word "neo-conservatives" more frequently. There may be some who are wondering who these ideologues are. An excellent place to start is at a neo-conservative think tank called The Project for a New American Centruy (PNAC)

PNAC is the group that has brought us our National Security Strategy under the Bush Administration. Well before GW went into office, they were hard at work. In the PNAC's "Statement of Principles" they state:

We seem to have forgotten the essential elements of the Reagan Administration's success: a military that is strong and ready to meet both present and future challenges; a foreign policy that boldly and purposefully promotes American principles abroad; and national leadership that accepts the United States' global responsibilities.

Some of those signing on to the principles are may be familiar, and some you may not have heard of. Some of those who participated in the PNAC's strategy document "Rebuilding America's Defenses" may also seem familiar. Information of the folks involved are included in the addendum at the end of this article.

What becomes in looking at the biographical info on those linked to PNAC is that they are both an ideologically and familialy incestutous group. They are related in various ways: throught marriage, or as children of other members; by spawning an array of conservative "think tanks" and political action committees; through their placement in the highest levels of both appointed and elected office. In looking through those at PNAC, and particularly the positions of those who participated in the creation of "Rebuilding ...", one might wonder what so many people working for the government are involved. WOuldn't this be a conflict of interest? I encourage you to read through the brief bios below. I think you may be startled.

ADDENDUM
(Basic info is from Disinfopedia or The Four Reasons.org unless otherwise noted)

Elliott Abrams Member of the National Security Council (NSC). Indicted in the Iran/Contra investigation for lying to Congress. Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Near East and North African Affairs, including Arab/Israel relations.

Gary Bauer One of the darlings of right wing Christian organizations. Intitated several PACs including "Campaign for Working Families" that contributed large amounts to Newt Gingrich's campaign. Sec. of Ed. under Reagan.

William J. Bennett Current Co-Chair of Empower America (see Libby below). His influence in the current administration is reflected in the 5/8/03 CommonDreams article William Bennett: Next Viceroy of Iraq?/

Jeb Bush GW's brother and Governor of Florida.

Dick Cheney Vice President of the US under GW Bush

Eliot A. Cohen Has worked with Rumsfeld, and taught at the Naval War College. Bio at IRC's Right Web. Member of the Comm. for the Liberation of Iraq and the American Enterprise Institute. Also a member of the Defense Policy Board.

Midge Decter (Right Web source) . Midge is married to Podhoretz (see below). She is also on the boards of The Heritage Foundation, Comm. for a Free World, and the Hoover Institution. She has written a biography of Rumsfeld ("Rumsfeld: A Personal Portrait")

Paula Dobriansky (Right Web) GW's Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs, and a fellow at the Hudson Institute. Sr. VP for the Washington office of the CFR (Disinfopedia entry).

Steve Forbes Son of publishing magnate Malcolm Forbes. He too was on the Empower America board (previous from Disinfopedia).

Aaron Friedberg (Right Web) Cheney's Deputy National Security Adviser and one of the founders of PNAC.

Francis Fukuyama (Right Web) - on the policy planning staff of the US Dept. of State in the 1980's, and on GW's Chair on the Council for Bioethics (Disinfopedia listing on the Council for Bioethics).

Frank Gaffney (Right Web) Protoge of Richard Perle. Founder of Center for Security Policy, and adviser for Americans for Victory Over Terrorism (AVOT). Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control Policy under Assistant Secretary Richard Perle ( Bio from Center for Security Policy).

Fred C. Ikle (Right Web) Ikle is also with the Center for Security Policy, and formerly affiliated with RAND, The American Enterprise Institute (with Cohen above). He was an Undersecretary of Defense under Reagan.

Donald Kagan (Right Web) Trustee of the Hudson Institute. His son (Robert) so-edited a book with William Kristol. He is Robert Kagan's father (see below) Disinfopedia listing).

Zalmay Khalilzad (Right Web) US Ambassador to Afghanistan and now consultant to Iraq - both under GW. Served as primary representative for Unocal to Afghanistan to set up the gas pipeline. He is also a Sr. Analyst for RAND, and he made close ties to the Taliban when acting as intermediary for Reagan.

I. Lewis Libby Chief of Staff for Cheney. Good friend of Wolfowitz. See also Biographies of the Neo-cons: Lewis Libby & Norman Podhoretz. Currently "Scooter" is entangled in the investigation into the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Libby is also a former Chair of Empower America, another neo-conservative organization that has education as one focus. Empower America also has other notable intimately involved including Lynne Cheney (Dick's wife), Bill Bennett (also on PNAC), and Dick Armey.

Norman Podhoretz (Right Web) Podohertz' daughter is married to Elliot Abrams. See also Biographies of the Neo-cons: Lewis Libby & Norman Podhoretz. He was a Sr. Fellow at Hdson, and Co-Founder for Comm. for the Free World, and on the CFR.

Dan Quayle Yes Bush Sr's Vice President. He is involved with the Hudson Institute and is on the Defense Policy Board (Right Web Bio).

Peter W. Rodman Assistant Secretary of Defense. He is a trustee for Freedom House, a member of the National Security Council, and is currently the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (Right Web Bio).

Stephen P. Rosen Was a professor at the US Naval War College, and Director of Political-Military Affairs at the National Security Council under Ronald Reagan.

Henry S. Rowen a Fellow at the Hoover Institution. "Rowen was Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in the U.S. Department of Defense (1989-1991) and chairman of the National Intelligence Council (1981-1983). Rowen served as President of the RAND Corporation (1967-1972) and was Assistant Director, U.S. Bureau of the Budget (1965-1966). He is a member of the Department of Defense's Defense Policy Board (disinfopedia)." He is a member of the Defense Policy Board.

Donald Rumsfeld Secretaty of Defense under GW Bush. He is also tied to the Hoover Institution, Empower America, RAND, Freedom House, Comm for the Free World and the Center for Security Policy (Right Web Bio).

Vin Weber (Disinfopedia) Former US Representative from Minnesota and Co-Founder of Empower America. He was a campaign adviser for GW, involved in the Aspen Group (Right Web Bio).

George Weigel (Right Web) - Sr. Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Council. He is also on the CFR ( Disinfopedia - New World Order).

Paul Wolfowitz Deputy Secretary of Defense for Rumsfeld. Disinfopedia Bio

Who Heads PNAC
William Kristol, Chairman
Robert Kagan
Bruce P. Jackson
Lewis E. Lehrman
Mark Gerson
Randy Scheunemann

A key document that was produced prior to GW Bush coming into office was Rebuilding America's Defenses. What follows is a list of those who participated in preparing this particular report:

Roger Barnett - U.S. Naval War College
Alvin Bernstein - National Defense University
Stephen Cambone - National Defense University
Eliot Cohen - Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University
Devon Gaffney Cross - Donors' Forum for International Affairs
Thomas Donnelly - Project for the New American Century
David Epstein - Office of Secretary of Defense, Net Assessment
David Fautua - Lt. Col., U.S. Army
Dan Goure - Center for Strategic and International Studies
Donald Kagan - Yale University
Fred Kagan - U. S. Military Academy at West Point
Robert Kagan - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Robert Killebrew - Col., USA (Ret.)
William Kristol - The Weekly Standard
Mark Lagon -Senate Foreign Relations Committee
James Lasswell - GAMA Corporation
I. Lewis Libby - Dechert Price & Rhoads
Robert Martinage - Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment
Phil Meilinger - U.S. Naval War College
Mackubin Owens - U.S. Naval War College
Steve Rosen - Harvard University
Gary Schmitt - Project for the New American Century
Abram Shulsky - The RAND Corporation
Michael Vickers - Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment
Barry Watts - Northrop Grumman Corporation
Paul Wolfowitz - Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University
Dov Zakheim - System Planning Corporation

Posted by rowan at February 7, 2004 8:29 AM | TrackBack | [eMail this article!] |