Steven J. Rosen Joins MEF as Visiting Fellow

March 2, 2009

http://www.meforum.org/2092/steven-j-rosen-joins-mef-as-visiting-fellow

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PHILADELPHIA — The Middle East Forum is pleased to announce
that Steven J. Rosen has joined its staff as a visiting fellow, with
special responsibility for U.S. foreign policy.

Mr. Rosen, a native of New York City, received a Ph.D. from
Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Diplomacy. From 1968 to 1982, he
served on the faculties of the University of Pittsburgh, Brandeis
University, and the Australian National University, and he headed Middle
East issues for the RAND Corporation's National Security Strategies
Program. He wrote many academic publications, including The Logic of
International Relations (1977), a best-selling textbook that ran to
five editions.

From 1982 to 2005, he served as director of foreign policy
issues for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, where he was
responsible for relations with the State Department, the National Security
Council, and other executive branch agencies. The Washington Post
noted that "Rosen helped pioneer 'executive-branch lobbying,' a style of
advocacy that was not widespread when he began it in the mid-1980s, but is
now a routine complement to the more traditional lobbying of Congress."
The New York Times called him one of AIPAC's "most influential
employees, with wide-ranging contacts within the Bush administration and
overseas." National Public Radio called him "a larger-than-life figure"
who "helped shape AIPAC into one of the most powerful lobby groups in the
country." According to a 2005 Ha'aretz article, "In the eyes of
many, he is AIPAC itself."

Two aspects of his work at AIPAC deserve special notice:

(1) His 1980s efforts to expand U.S.-Israel military
cooperation: Mr. Rosen argued that the U.S.-Israel relationship should be
based not on unilateral U.S. support for Israel but on mutual benefit. He
established this premise in reports such as The Strategic Value of
Israel (1982) and Israel and the U.S. Air Force (with Martin
Indyk, 1983). The Washington Post noted that he then "helped
convince key members of the administration that Israel was a U.S.
'strategic asset'," leading to "more cooperation than the two countries
had ever enjoyed" while New York Times columnist William Safire
credited him with helping launch U.S.-Israel strategic cooperation. A
New Yorker profile noted that: "Rosen used his contacts to ...
lobby for a strategic cooperation agreement between Israel and the United
States, which was signed over the objections of ... the Secretary of
Defense, and which led to a new level of intelligence sharing and military
sales."

(2) His 1990s efforts to build leverage over Iran through a
strategy of graduated economic sanctions: Mr. Rosen worked behind the
scenes to secure President Clinton's March 14, 1995 executive order
banning Conoco from investing in Iranian oil and gas production and his
May 8, 1995 executive order extending this ban to all U.S. companies;
congressional passage of the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act ("ILSA") on December
18, 1995, to pressure foreign companies not to invest in Iranian oil and
gas production; and Clinton's signing ILSA on August 4, 1996. The
executive orders and ILSA (now called the Iran Sanctions Act) remain the
foundation of efforts today to mobilize multilateral economic pressures
against the Iranian nuclear enrichment program.

Mr. Rosen has already initiated two projects for the Middle
East Forum, a weblog titled "Obama Mideast
Monitor" and a publication series called The Policy Forum. His work at
the Forum as a visiting fellow will initially emphasize issues facing the
new administration, particularly debates concerning Iran and the
Palestinians.

In announcing the appointment, Daniel Pipes, director of the
Middle East Forum, said: "Steve Rosen brings new strengths to our work,
particularly in the Washington policy environment that he knows so
well."

Mr. Rosen said: "The Middle East Forum has a reputation for
excellence in research and analysis. I am honored to join it and hope to
help increase its impact in the policy arena."

Immediate release

For more information, contact Amy Shargel at

215-546-5406, ex. 22
Shargel@MEForum.org

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