Charles W. Freeman

President of the Middle East Policy Council (1995 to 2009)

(Middle East Policy Council)

Why He Matters

No one can argue that Freeman isn't credentialed on national security issues. He has worked with more than 100 foreign governments during his 30-year diplomatic career. He can speak Chinese, French, Spanish, Taiwanese, Portuguese, Italian, and is working on his Arabic.

But Freeman's expansive experience wasn't enough to protect him from criticism over his latest job offer. The Obama administration selected Freeman to head the National Intelligence Council (NIC), a job which does not require Senate confirmation, sparking a firestorm of criticism by observers who call him an Israel-hater, a China appeaser and a Saudi Arabia sympathizer.

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Corrections?

Background

At a Glance

Career History: United States Institute of Peace fellowship (1994 to 1995); Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (1994 to 1993)
Hometown: Rhode Island

Alma Mater: Yale University, B.A., Harvard Law School, J.D.
Spouse: Patricia

Path to Power

Freeman was born in Rhode Island but grew up in the Bahamas, where his father was a businessman. He began studying languages early with his mother, who required her children to speak a foreign tongue at the dinner table a couple of nights a week. Sims attended a school where "one of my teachers was an avowed communist, a World War II Royal Air Force flying ace taught me Greek and Latin, and another of my teachers was arrested as a Nazi war criminal while I was present in his classroom," he recalled in a 1991 interview.

Freeman moved back to the U.S. when he was 13. He tested into the 12th grade of an American high school, but chose to stay with students his own age. He graduated from Yale University and Harvard Law School, and also spent a year at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

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Freeman entered the Foreign Service in 1965, where he was considered one of the "whiz kids" of the State Department. He served in India and Taiwan before being moved to China, where he worked as President Richard Nixon's interpreter and became America's principal translator in that country. Freeman directed the State Department's Chinese Affairs efforts from 1979 to 1981 before moving to Beijing, where he served as deputy chief of mission and charge d'affaires at the American embassy. He accepted the same position in Bangkok in 1984.

He was named deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs under Chet Crocker in 1986, a position he held until 1989. He served as ambassador to Saudi Arabia under the first President Bush during Operation Desert Storm.

Freeman was named assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs from 1993 to 1994. In that job, he helped design a NATO-centered European security system and re-established U.S. military relations with China. In 1994, he accepted a year-long fellowship at the United States Institute of Peace. In 1995, Freeman became chairman of the board of Projects International, a D.C. based firm that specializes in developing international business deals and acquisitions.

Middle East Policy Council

Freeman was named president of the Middle East Policy Council in 1997. In an interview, Freeman described the organization's mission as "devoted to making the case to Americans that U.S. interests dictate a strong and positive relationship with the Arab world and with Islam generally." During his tenure as president, his organization published "The Israel Lobby," a controversial report that suggested pro-Israel lobbyists have hijacked Washington's Middle East foreign policy debate and "divert[ed] U.S. foreign policy as far from what the American national interest would otherwise suggest."

In February 2009, Freeman was chosen to head the National Intelligence Council, a U.S. intelligence think tank that reports to the Director of National Intelligence and prepares the president's daily intelligence briefings. He announced that he would not take the position after weeks of controversy and complaints from legislators. "It would be inappropriate to appoint an official of AIPAC to run the National Intelligence Council," writes blogger Jeffrey Goldberg. "It seems inappropriate to give the job to a Saudi sympathizer as well." Nine members of the House of Representatives, including Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) called on the Inspector General to investigate Freeman's ties to Saudi Arabia.

Their concerns stem from a "generous" donation Freeman's think tank received from the country. According to blogger Greg Sargent, Sen. Charles E. Schumer has privately expressed concerns about the appointment to Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

But Freeman has his defenders too. "I would trust that Mr. Freeman would exhibit integrity in addressing issues on the Middle East," said former NIC official Paul Pillar. A foreign affairs professional "can do his job in the best and most objective way he thinks is possible and isn't necessarily going to be working one policy slant vs. another policy slant."

The Issues

Freeman says the relationship between the United States and the Arab and Muslim worlds has deteriorated dramatically. He imagines a U.S. foreign policy that promotes stability in the Persian Gulf region; pushes for a secure state of Israel that is accepted by Israelis and Palestinians; emphasizes containment of problems; and advocates for a respectful inter-faith dialogue between Muslims and Christians.

Freeman has proposed creating a collective for countries who purchase a lot of oil. "Both sides could benefit from exchanging planning information and views, like unions and management [and avoid] unpleasant surprises," he said in a 2008 speech. He has also called for ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan quickly.

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Freeman has also criticized the American government system, which he says has "broken down." Instead of debate, he says Americans have become silent. "Patriotism is confused with silent acquiescence" he said. "This is not just a political problem, it is a systemic breakdown in American democracy."

China

As a member of ChinaSec, a confidential Internet discussion group, Freeman wrote that "the truly unforgivable mistake of the Chinese authorities was the failure to intervene on a timely basis to nip the [Tiananmen Square] demonstrations in the bud." He argued that the [Chinese] government acted correctly in stopping the protest and asserted that "I do not believe it is acceptable for any country to allow the heart of its national capital to be occupied by dissidents intent on disrupting the normal functions of government, however appealing to foreigners their propaganda may be."

Freeman has said that these remarks were taken out of context and that he was describing the dominant view in China after the crackdown, not expressing his own opinion.

He has also been attacked because he was a board member of the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation.

Iraq

Freeman was an opponent of the Iraq war from the start. In a 2005 speech to the U.S.-Arab Policymakers Conference, Freeman said that America "forfeited the international esteem that once undergirded our global influence" for a "tragically misguided lurch into militarism." The war, he said, destabilized the state and the only solution is ending the American occupation.

Freeman said the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are breeding terrorists and "multiplying our enemies tenfold."

Israel

Freeman has long criticized America's role in the Middle East peace process. The U.S., Freeman says, compromised its ability to mediate the problems because it is seen by much of the Muslim world as unabashedly pro-Israel. "The blank check we currently offer Israel enables it to adopt policies that serve parochial and short-term interests at the expense of long-term interests," he said in 2008. "Our unconditional support deprives Israelis of the need to make choices they must make in their own interest, and it aids and abets the adoption of policies that are unilateralist, militarist, counterproductive, and inevitably self-defeating."

Freeman has also called Israel an occupier, though he says blame for the current state of violence in the country lies on both sides. Palestinians have created fear, he argues, by attacking civilians. Israel, on the other hand, has seized land in ways that are "incompatible with mutual respect and reconciliation." Neither side can live sustainably for much longer, he contends.

In March 2009, after he resigned from his position with the National Security Council, he told the Forward "Israel has multiple voices in the United States explaining it and its motivations. It doesn't need me to do so. In fact, Israel's viewpoints dominate our understanding of its dispute with the Palestinians and its consequent estrangement from its other Arab neighbors. Frankly, I don't see that need."

Some of the major opposition to Freeman's current appointment comes from hard-line Zionists like Steve Rosen, a former AIPAC policy director, who says that Freeman's attacks on the "Israel Lobby" and on Israel's "lack of talent for peace" are incompatible with America's current foreign policy. "Freeman is a strident critic of Israel," Rosen wrote. "His views of the region are what you would expect in the Saudi foreign ministry." But many critics of Freeman are unwilling to slam him publicly because Obama has appointed so many advocates of Israel.

The Network

Freeman is a longtime friend of Adm. Dennis Blair, Obama's director of National Intelligence. According to NPR, Blair requested that his friend chair the council.

Freeman took over his position at MEPC from former Sen. George McGovern, who is still a member of the board.

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