Morton Halperin
Encyclopedia
Morton H. Halperin is an American expert on foreign policy and civil liberties. He served in the Johnson, Nixon, and Clinton administrations and in a number of roles with think tank
s and universities
such as the Council on Foreign Relations
and Harvard University
.
from Columbia College
and his Ph.D.
in international relations
from Yale University
. With his first wife Ina Weinstein Young, he has three sons—David, Gary, and Mark Halperin
, political analyst for ABC News
, Time
magazine and Time.com. He is married to Diane Orentlicher, who is on leave from her post as a professor of Law at American University, to serve as Deputy, Office of War Crimes, Department of State. He is the brother of Daniel Halperin, the Stanley S. Surrey Professor of Law at Harvard.
When a member of the Harvard Center for International Affairs, he authored the book Contemporary Military Strategy in 1967, where he defended "large-scale American bombing in South Vietnam" on the grounds that although it "may have antagonized a number of people" it nonetheless "demonstrated to these people that the Vietcong could not guarantee their security" -- thus "illustrat[ing] the fact that most people tend to be motivated, not by abstract appeals, but rather by their perception of the course of action that is most likely to lead to their own personal security".
Halperin served in the Department of Defense
under President Lyndon B. Johnson
in the 1960s as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, and was dovish on the Vietnam War
, calling for a halt to bombing Vietnam
. When Richard Nixon
became president in 1969, Henry Kissinger
, his new National Security Advisor
announced Halperin would join the staff of the National Security Council
. The appointment of Halperin, a colleague of Kissinger's at Harvard University
in the 1960s, was immediately criticized by General Earle G. Wheeler, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
; FBI director J. Edgar Hoover
; and Senator Barry Goldwater
.
One of Halperin's famous quotes is:
Kissinger soon lost faith in Halperin. A front page story in The New York Times on May 9, 1969, stated the United States had been bombing Cambodia
, a neutral country. Kissinger immediately called Hoover to find out who might have leaked this information to the press. Hoover suggested Halperin and Kissinger agreed that was likely. That very day, the FBI began tapping Halperin's phones at Kissinger's direction. (Kissinger says nothing of this in his memoirs and mentions Halperin in passing about four times.) Halperin left the NSC in September 1969, after only nine months but the tapping continued until February 1971. Halperin was also placed on Nixon's Enemies List
.
He was a friend of Daniel Ellsberg
. When Ellsberg was investigated in connection with the Pentagon Papers
, suspicion fell on Halperin, who some Nixon aides believed had kept classified documents when he left government service. John Dean
claimed that Jack Caulfield had told him of a plan to fire-bomb the Brookings Institution
, Halperin's employer, to destroy Halperin's files.
Halperin, as Director of the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) office in Washington, defended the right of The Progressive
magazine to publish a description of the design principle of a thermonuclear weapon (H-Bomb).
He was a partial writer of The Lawless State
, which documents the surveillance techniques and crimes of the U.S. government during the Cold War.
In 1985 he won a MacArthur Foundation
fellowship.
Halperin was later appointed Director of Policy Planning
at the State Department under President Clinton
.
. Halperin created the OSI DC office and oversaw all policy advocacy on U.S. and international issues, including promotion of human rights and support for open societies abroad. In 2008, after controversy concerning his support of new surveillance powers and immunity under the FISA Amendments Act of 2008
, his status was changed to that of a consultant in order to in his words "leave myself free to speak out more freely on the substance of these issues".http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/radio/2008/08/13/halperin/index2.html He became a full time employee of the Open Society Institute in May 2009.
Halperin has a distinguished career in federal government, having served in the Clinton, Nixon and Johnson administrations. In the Clinton administration, Halperin was Director of the Policy Planning Staff at the Department of State (1998–2001), the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Democracy at the National Security Council (1994–1996), and consultant to the Secretary of Defense and the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (1993). He was nominated by the President for the position of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Democracy and Peacekeeping. During the first nine months of the Nixon administration, Halperin was a Senior Staff member of the National Security Council staff with responsibility for National Security Planning (1969). In the Johnson Administration, Halperin worked in the Department of Defense where he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (International Security Affairs), responsible for political-military planning and arms control (1966–1969).
Halperin also has a long record as a Washington advocate on national and international issues. He spent many years at the American Civil Liberties Union, serving as the Director of the Washington Office from 1984 to 1992, where he was responsible for the national legislative program as well as the activities of the ACLU Foundation based in the Washington Office. Halperin also served as the Director of the Center for National Security Studies from 1975 to 1992, where he focused on issues affecting both civil liberties and national security.
Halperin has been associated with a number of think tanks and universities including Harvard University where he taught for six years (1960–66) and the Council on Foreign Relations. He has been widely published in newspapers and magazines across the world, and has authored, coauthored and edited more than a dozen books.
The recipient of numerous awards, Halperin also served as the Senior Vice President and Director of Fellows at the Center for American Progress
. He is Chairman of the Board of the Democracy Coalition Project. He serves on the boards of ONE and the Constitution Project
(where he is also a member of the Liberty and Security Committee)http://www.constitutionproject.org/libertyandsecurity/members.cfm?categoryId=3, and is the chair of the Advisory Board of the Center for National Security Studies.
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
s and universities
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
such as the Council on Foreign Relations
Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit nonpartisan membership organization, publisher, and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
and Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
.
Early career
Halperin received his Bachelor of ArtsBachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
from Columbia College
Columbia College of Columbia University
Columbia College is the oldest undergraduate college at Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus in Morningside Heights in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1754 by the Church of England as King's College, receiving a Royal Charter from King George II...
and his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in international relations
International relations
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. With his first wife Ina Weinstein Young, he has three sons—David, Gary, and Mark Halperin
Mark Halperin
Mark E. Halperin is the senior political analyst for Time magazine, Time.com, and MSNBC and serves as a board member on the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. He is the co-author of Game Change.-Personal:Mark Halperin is the son of Morton Halperin and Ina Young. He has...
, political analyst for ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
, Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine and Time.com. He is married to Diane Orentlicher, who is on leave from her post as a professor of Law at American University, to serve as Deputy, Office of War Crimes, Department of State. He is the brother of Daniel Halperin, the Stanley S. Surrey Professor of Law at Harvard.
When a member of the Harvard Center for International Affairs, he authored the book Contemporary Military Strategy in 1967, where he defended "large-scale American bombing in South Vietnam" on the grounds that although it "may have antagonized a number of people" it nonetheless "demonstrated to these people that the Vietcong could not guarantee their security" -- thus "illustrat[ing] the fact that most people tend to be motivated, not by abstract appeals, but rather by their perception of the course of action that is most likely to lead to their own personal security".
Halperin served in the Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
under President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
in the 1960s as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, and was dovish on the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, calling for a halt to bombing Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. When Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
became president in 1969, Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
, his new National Security Advisor
National Security Advisor (United States)
The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor , serves as the chief advisor to the President of the United States on national security issues...
announced Halperin would join the staff of the National Security Council
United States National Security Council
The White House National Security Council in the United States is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for considering national security and foreign policy matters with his senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials and is part of the Executive Office of the...
. The appointment of Halperin, a colleague of Kissinger's at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in the 1960s, was immediately criticized by General Earle G. Wheeler, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Joint Chiefs of Staff is a body of senior uniformed leaders in the United States Department of Defense who advise the Secretary of Defense, the Homeland Security Council, the National Security Council and the President on military matters...
; FBI director J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
; and Senator Barry Goldwater
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
.
One of Halperin's famous quotes is:
Kissinger soon lost faith in Halperin. A front page story in The New York Times on May 9, 1969, stated the United States had been bombing Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
, a neutral country. Kissinger immediately called Hoover to find out who might have leaked this information to the press. Hoover suggested Halperin and Kissinger agreed that was likely. That very day, the FBI began tapping Halperin's phones at Kissinger's direction. (Kissinger says nothing of this in his memoirs and mentions Halperin in passing about four times.) Halperin left the NSC in September 1969, after only nine months but the tapping continued until February 1971. Halperin was also placed on Nixon's Enemies List
Nixon's Enemies List
Nixon’s Enemies List is the informal name of what started as a list of President of the United States Richard Nixon’s major political opponents compiled by Charles Colson, written by George T. Bell , and sent in memorandum form to John Dean on September 9, 1971...
.
He was a friend of Daniel Ellsberg
Daniel Ellsberg
Daniel Ellsberg, PhD, is a former United States military analyst who, while employed by the RAND Corporation, precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of U.S. government decision-making in relation to the Vietnam War,...
. When Ellsberg was investigated in connection with the Pentagon Papers
Pentagon Papers
The Pentagon Papers, officially titled United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense, is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States' political-military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967...
, suspicion fell on Halperin, who some Nixon aides believed had kept classified documents when he left government service. John Dean
John Dean
John Wesley Dean III is an American lawyer who served as White House Counsel to United States President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. In this position, he became deeply involved in events leading up to the Watergate burglaries and the subsequent Watergate scandal cover-up...
claimed that Jack Caulfield had told him of a plan to fire-bomb the Brookings Institution
Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. One of Washington's oldest think tanks, Brookings conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and...
, Halperin's employer, to destroy Halperin's files.
Tapping revealed
The tapping of Halperin's phone was not revealed until 1973, when it came out in Ellsberg's trial. He sued Nixon and won a symbolic $1 judgment in 1977 for the offense.Halperin, as Director of the American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
(ACLU) office in Washington, defended the right of The Progressive
The Progressive
The Progressive is an American monthly magazine of politics, culture and progressivism with a pronounced liberal perspective on some issues. Known for its pacifism, it has strongly opposed military interventions, such as the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The magazine also devotes much coverage...
magazine to publish a description of the design principle of a thermonuclear weapon (H-Bomb).
He was a partial writer of The Lawless State
The Lawless State
The Lawless State was written in 1976 jointly by Morton H. Halperin, Jerry J. Berman, Robert L. Borosage, and Christine M. Marwick. It recounts abuses of power by the U.S...
, which documents the surveillance techniques and crimes of the U.S. government during the Cold War.
In 1985 he won a MacArthur Foundation
MacArthur Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is one of the largest private foundations in the United States. Based in Chicago but supporting non-profit organizations that work in 60 countries, MacArthur has awarded more than US$4 billion since its inception in 1978...
fellowship.
Halperin was later appointed Director of Policy Planning
Director of Policy Planning
The Director of Policy Planning is the United States Department of State official in charge of the Department's internal think tank, the Policy Planning Staff. The position of Director of Policy Planning has traditionally been held by many members of the U.S. foreign policy establishment...
at the State Department under President Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
.
Open Society Institute
He is Senior Advisor for the Open Society InstituteOpen Society Institute
The Open Society Institute , renamed in 2011 to Open Society Foundations, is a private operating and grantmaking foundation started by George Soros, aimed to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform...
. Halperin created the OSI DC office and oversaw all policy advocacy on U.S. and international issues, including promotion of human rights and support for open societies abroad. In 2008, after controversy concerning his support of new surveillance powers and immunity under the FISA Amendments Act of 2008
FISA Amendments Act of 2008
The FISA Amendments Act of 2008 is an Act of Congress that amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.-Background:...
, his status was changed to that of a consultant in order to in his words "leave myself free to speak out more freely on the substance of these issues".http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/radio/2008/08/13/halperin/index2.html He became a full time employee of the Open Society Institute in May 2009.
Halperin has a distinguished career in federal government, having served in the Clinton, Nixon and Johnson administrations. In the Clinton administration, Halperin was Director of the Policy Planning Staff at the Department of State (1998–2001), the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Democracy at the National Security Council (1994–1996), and consultant to the Secretary of Defense and the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (1993). He was nominated by the President for the position of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Democracy and Peacekeeping. During the first nine months of the Nixon administration, Halperin was a Senior Staff member of the National Security Council staff with responsibility for National Security Planning (1969). In the Johnson Administration, Halperin worked in the Department of Defense where he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (International Security Affairs), responsible for political-military planning and arms control (1966–1969).
Halperin also has a long record as a Washington advocate on national and international issues. He spent many years at the American Civil Liberties Union, serving as the Director of the Washington Office from 1984 to 1992, where he was responsible for the national legislative program as well as the activities of the ACLU Foundation based in the Washington Office. Halperin also served as the Director of the Center for National Security Studies from 1975 to 1992, where he focused on issues affecting both civil liberties and national security.
Halperin has been associated with a number of think tanks and universities including Harvard University where he taught for six years (1960–66) and the Council on Foreign Relations. He has been widely published in newspapers and magazines across the world, and has authored, coauthored and edited more than a dozen books.
The recipient of numerous awards, Halperin also served as the Senior Vice President and Director of Fellows at the Center for American Progress
Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress is a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization. Its website states that the organization is "dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action." It has its headquarters in Washington D.C.Its President and Chief...
. He is Chairman of the Board of the Democracy Coalition Project. He serves on the boards of ONE and the Constitution Project
Constitution Project
The Constitution Project is an non-profit think tank in the United States that builds bipartisan consensus on significant constitutional and legal questions. Founded and led by Virginia Sloan, the Constitution Project’s work is divided between two programs: the Rule of Law Program and the Criminal...
(where he is also a member of the Liberty and Security Committee)http://www.constitutionproject.org/libertyandsecurity/members.cfm?categoryId=3, and is the chair of the Advisory Board of the Center for National Security Studies.
External links
- Statement on the nomination of Dr. Morton Halperin, Congressional Record, United States Senate, 15 July 1994
- Open Society Institute
- Interview with Glenn GreenwaldGlenn GreenwaldGlenn Greenwald is an American lawyer, columnist, blogger, and author. Greenwald worked as a constitutional and civil rights litigator before becoming a contributor to Salon.com, where he focuses on political and legal topics...
for SalonSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
, 13 August 2008