Kesher Talk

Not with the Mossad: I just received an important clarification from the ICT regarding my Israeli Palestinian casualties article:

For the record, Don Radlauer is not a former head of the Mossad, and in fact, has never been affiliated with any Israeli security body. Mr. Radlauer is an Associate Researcher at the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism. Essentially, the Institute's Associates carry out research on an an hoc basis. In this capacity, Mr. Radlauer has also published articles on such topics as suspicious trading prior to the September 11 Attacks, and a Pilots View of the Hijackings. (see http://www.ict.org.il/articles/staffarticles.cfm for a breakdown of articles by author listed alphebetically)

The source of the confusion is no doubt the fact that the current head of ICT's Board of Directors is Shabtai Shavit, who is a former head of the Mossad. A glance at ICT's staff profiles (http://www.ict.org.il/institute/people.htm) shows that a number of our staff have served in various branches of the security services. The statistical significance of this is diminished, however, when one recalls that the vast majority of Israelis do serve a mandatory stint in the military. Those with a bent for research in security issues tend to gravitate toward academic institutes like ICT.

I hope this clears up the confusion. I'm afraid that the question of bias is bound to arise due to the fact that ICT is an Israeli institute. The only answer to that is that, as a reputable academic facility, we endevour as far as possible to maintain our objectivity, as well as a healthy sense of self-criticism.

Sincerely,
Yael Shahar
Director, Internet & Database Project,
International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism.

posted by Howard @ 8/01/2002 04:13:17 PM