Richard Clarke's Pentagon Papers/VVAW Connection

Compiled from various sources ^ | 4/7/2003 | Original Freeper research

[Fedora]

Today I noticed that Condoleezza Rice was being criticized by Leslie Gelb:

Friends, Foes Say Rice Has Spirit, Toughness She'll Need for Sept. 11 Testimony

At the same time, Leslie Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, who has known Rice for two decades, says he has seen a stiffening in her philosophical approach over the years.

Gelb's name rang a bell, and upon searching I discovered Gelb was responsible for hiring Richard Clarke to the State Department:

Clarke Known As Abrasive but Efficient

Leslie Gelb, who hired Clarke for his first State Department job in 1979

Now Gelb has also been involved in several major national security leaks, including the Pentagon Papers:

The Pentagon Papers and Their Continuing Significance

Amid his own growing doubts about the war he had encouraged, McNamara quietly left the government in early 1968. Before doing so, however, he ordered a small staff in the Department of Defense to undertake a secret study of U.S. decision-making about Vietnam since the end of the Second World War. The study was directed by Leslie Gelb.

S. Steven Powell, Richard Milhous Nixon (Introduction), David Horowitz (Designer), Covert Cadre: Inside the Institute for Policy Studies, p. 48

About nine months into the [Pentagon Papers] project, Daniel Ellsberg of the Rand Corporation climbed aboard. Even though Ellsberg behaved erratically throughout and failed to meet deadlines, Gelb and [Paul C.] Warnke agreed to give him "personal access to the entire study."

Powell, 53:

On May 16, while testifying before the United States Senate, Ellsberg, before taking the oath, stated that Warnke, Halperin and Gelb were not involved in his theft of the Papers. No one had asked him that question. . .but later, after Sen. Strom Thurmond insisted that he be put under oath, he did not discuss this matter.

Powell, 90:

On February 14, 1985, Leslie Gelb broke a front-page story in the New York Times titled "U.S. tries to Fight Allied Resistance to Nuclear Arms." In it, Gelb revealed that the United States had drawn up plans to deploy nuclear depth charges in Canada, Iceland, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, the Azores, the Philippines, Spain, and Diego Garcia in time of war. Gelb's source for this classified information? The Institute for Policy Studies. . .These stories struck a raw nerve in the alliance. . .and subsequently led to the demise of the ANZUS alliance.

Powell, 103:

. . .Leslie Gelb, of the New York Times, described the institute [the Institute for Policy Studies] as "one of the premiere centers for foreign policy perspectives."

Further searching reveals that Gelb began his political career working for antiwar Senator Jacob Javits, whom was considered for invitation by event organizers to the VVAW's Dewey Canyon III rally:

Leslie H. Gelb

Director of Policy Planning and Arms Control for International Security Affairs, Department of Defense (1967­-69); Executive Assistant, U.S. Senator Jacob K. Javits (1966-67)

Jacob K. Javits Collection

During the 1970s, one of Javits' major concerns was the question of who has the power to make war. He was the first member of Congress to propose legislation reestablishing congressional (rather than presidential) responsibility to commit U.S. armed forces abroad in the absence of a formal declaration of war. This War Powers Resolution passed the Senate in April 1972 and again in July 1973. It became law over President Nixon's veto on November 7, 1973.

This week in history 25 years ago--February 21, 1971: Stalinists push "People's Peace Treaty"

Both the Stalinists and the ex-Trotskyists of the Socialist Workers Party proposed that big business politicians such as Democratic Senator George McGovern and Republican Senator Jacob Javits should be invited to speak at the antiwar demonstration set for April 24 in Washington, DC.

Douglas Brinkley, Tour of Duty : John Kerry and the Vietnam War, 361

Just as the VVAW members were arriving in the capital, New York Senator Jacob Javits held a private dinner at his home where Secretary of State Melvin Laird was the guest of honor. It was a carefully staged event. Javits had eight other Republican members of the House and the Senate also stop by. AFter dinner. . .Pennsylvania Senator Hugh Scott dropped the gauntlet. "You don't see any hawks around here," he told Laird in a non-nonsense fashion. "The hawks are all ex-hawks. There's a feeling that the Senate ought to tell the President to get the hell out of the War."

So Richard Clarke was hired by Leslie Gelb, an individual involved in the Penagon Papers leak, who in turn started his political career working for Jacob Javits, an ally of the VVAW. Interesting, no?

[expatpat]

All of these players -- Lake, Halperin, Gelb, Warnke, and Ellsberg -- soon became activists in the IPS network.

Is it just me, but there seems to be an awful high percentage of Jewish lefties in this list.

[walden]

Until the Vietnam generation is either retired or dead, the Democratic party will continue to be borderline treasonous.

[Howlin]

It's all quite incestuous, isn't it?

Great, great research! This is what FR does best!

[Howlin]

Bookmark this so when it finally makes the news, we can refer back to THIS research and give credit where credit is due.

[HateBill]

Ven-Beniste (commie partisan attack dog) is another veteran of Watergate.

[Fedora]

Hope the right people see this.

Me, too! I trust there must be FBI files on some of these folks dating back to Watergate, some of which have probably been previously released to biographers and historians--I'm sure a little crossreferencing would turn up a lot more than what's touched on here.

[NativeNewYorker]

an awful high percentage of Jewish lefties

Perle, Wolfowitz, Eliot Abrams...no shortage of my co-religionists on the side of the good guys either.

[Fedora]

Bookmark this so when it finally makes the news, we can refer back to THIS research and give credit where credit is due.

Thanks for the bookmark ping!--appreciate it.

BTW, while we've got some good researchers on this thread, it just occurred to me that Leslie Gelb might be related to Arthur Gelb of the New York Times--anyone happen to know, or could help determine this? Here's a little background info:

Jason Robards, Newspaper Ink Blot

Arthur Gelb, now retired, was a powerful figure at the Times, an intimate of Abe Rosenthal who worked at the paper 55 years and rose to managing editor. For about two decades starting in 1967, when he was metropolitan editor, Gelb controlled the Times' daily cultural coverage.

There's more on the NYT Gelbs in this book:

Susan E. Tifft and Alex S. Jones, The Trust: The Private and Powerful Family Behind the New York Times

Incidentally, in this book there is evidence of the NYT having journalists with a pro-Communist slant all the way back to the Spanish Civil War, and there's also info the NYT role in Castro's rise to power, as well as the anti-Vietnam movement and the Pentagon Papers. There's a big story to be pieced together there.

[NativeNewYorker]

borderline treasonous

They crossed that border a long time ago.

[Fedora]

Interesting--I hadn't heard of the World Federalist Association. I'll have to check into that.

[Fedora]

All these roaches come from the same next.

Agreed.

[Mo1]

Got it .. Book marked

[Fedora]

Ven-Beniste (commie partisan attack dog) is another veteran of Watergate.

Thanks, I hadn't heard of that individual. Trying to find a link and not coming up with anything--where might I look for info on them?

[7thson]

FYI -

Leslie H. Gelb

Experience:

Columnist, Deputy Editorial Page Editor, Op-Ed Page Editor, National Security Correspondent, Diplomatic Correspondent, New York Times (1981-93); Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment (1980-81); Assistant Secretary of State for Political/Military Affairs (1977-79); Senior Fellow, Brookings (1969-73); Visiting Professor, Georgetown University (1969-73); Director of Policy Planning and Arms Control for International Security Affairs, Department of Defense (1967-69); Executive Assistant, U.S. Senator Jacob K. Javits (1966-67).

[kcvl]

Thanks for the ping, Howlin.


bookmarked...

[Fedora]

Until the Vietnam generation is either retired or dead, the Democratic party will continue to be borderline treasonous.

It sure seems like most of the worst offenders are all veterans of the antiwar movement--many of them associated with Ted Kennedy, George McGovern, William Fulbright, etc.

[Fedora]

Thanks!

[EdReform]

Bump & Bookmark...

[Howlin]

You have regular email.

[TexasCajun]

Great work!
Just another example of why President Bush should have cleaned house when he took office.