Ehud Barak
Minister of Defense
Incumbent
Assumed office March 28, 2007
Prime Minister	Ehud Olmert Benjamin Netanyahu
Preceded by	Amir Peretz
Prime Minister of Israel
In office 6 July 1999 – 7 March 2001
President	Ezer Weizman Moshe Katsav
Preceded by	Benjamin Netanyahu
Succeeded by	Ariel Sharon
Personal details
Born	Ehud Brog (1942-02-12) 12 February 1942 (age 70) Mishmar HaSharon, British Mandate of Palestine
Political party	Labor Party (until 2011) Independence (from 2011)
Spouse(s)	Nava Cohen (divorced) Nili Priel
Children	3
Alma mater	Hebrew University Stanford University
Profession	Military officer
Religion	Judaism
Signature
Military service
Service/branch	Israeli Army
Years of service	1959 - 1995
Rank	Lieutenant General
Battles/wars	Yom Kippur War Operation Entebbe

Ehud Barak (Hebrew: אהוד ברק (help·info); born Ehud Brog on 12 February 1942) is an Israeli politician who served as Prime Minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until January 2011^[1] and holds the posts of Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister in Binyamin Netanyahu's government.

He is a graduate in physics, mathematics, and economics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Stanford University. He served as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces. Following a highly decorated career, he was appointed Chief of General Staff in 1991, serving until 1995.

Personal life[link]

He was born on 12 February 1942 in kibbutz Mishmar HaSharon in Israel.^[2] He is the eldest of four sons of Esther (née Godin) (b. 1913) and Yisrael Mendel Brog (1910-2002).

His paternal grandparents, Frieda and Reuven Brog, were murdered in Pušalotas (Pushelat) in the northern Lithuania (then ruled by Russian Empire) in 1912, leaving his father orphaned at the age of two. Barak's maternal grandparents, Elka and Shmuel Godin, died at the Treblinka extermination camp during the Holocaust.

Ehud hebraized his family name from "Brog" to "Barak" in 1972. It was during his military service that he met his future wife, Nava (née Cohen). They had three daughters together. Barak divorced Nava in August 2003. On 30 July 2007 Barak married Nili Priel in a small ceremony in his private residence. In his spare time, Barak enjoys reading works by writers such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.^[3]

In 2005, he was voted the 61st-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.^[4]

Education[link]

Barak earned his bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1968, and his master's degree in engineering-economic systems in 1978 from Stanford University, in California.

Military service[link]

Barak joined the Israel Defense Forces (I.D.F.) in 1959. He served in the IDF for 35 years, rising to the position of Chief of the General Staff and the rank of Rav Aluf (Lieutenant-General), the highest in the Israeli military. During the Yom Kippur War, Barak commanded an improvised regiment of tanks which among other things, helped rescue paratrooper battalion 890 commanded by Yitzhak Mordechai who were suffering heavy losses in the Battle of the Chinese Farm.

Ehud Barak with Legion of Merit (1993)

During his service as a commando in the elite Sayeret Matkal, Barak led several highly acclaimed operations, such as: "Operation Isotope", the rescue mission to free the hostages onboard Sabena Flight 571 at Lod Airport in 1972; the 1973 covert mission Operation Spring of Youth in Beirut, in which he was disguised as a woman in order to assassinate members of the Palestine Liberation Organization; Barak was also a key architect of the June 1976 Operation Entebbe, another rescue mission to free the hostages of the Air France aircraft hijacked by terrorists and forced to land at the Entebbe Airport in Uganda. These highly acclaimed operations, along with Operation Bayonet led to the dismantling of Palestinian terrorist cell Black September. It has been alluded that Barak also masterminded the Tunis Raid on 16 April 1988, in which PLO leader Abu Jihad was assassinated.^[5]

Later he served as head of Aman, the Military Intelligence Directorate (1983–85), head of Central Command (1986–87) and Deputy Chief of the General Staff (1987–91). He served as Chief of the General Staff between 1 April 1991 and 1 January 1995. During this period he implemented the first Oslo Accords and participated in the negotiations towards the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace.

Barak was awarded the Medal of Distinguished Service and four Chief of Staff citations (Tzalash HaRamatkal) for courage and operational excellence. These five decorations make him the most decorated soldier in Israeli history (jointly with close friend Nechemya Cohen).^[6] In 1992 he was also awarded the Legion of Merit (Commander) by the United States.^[7]

Political career[link]

On 7 July 1995 Barak was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs by Yitzhak Rabin. When Shimon Peres formed a new government following Rabin's assassination in November 1995, Barak was made Minister of Foreign Affairs (1995–96). He was elected to the Knesset on the Labor Party list in 1996, and served as a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Following internal elections after Peres' defeat in the election for Prime Minister in 1996, Barak became the leader of the Labor Party.

Prime Minister of Israel[link]

Barak at the Pentagon (1999)

In the 1999 Prime Ministerial election, Barak beat Binyamin Netanyahu by a wide margin. However, he sparked controversy by deciding to form a coalition with the ultra-Orthodox party Shas, who had won an unprecedented 17 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Shas grudgingly agreed to Barak's terms that they eject their leader Aryeh Deri, a convicted felon, and enact reform to "clean up" in-party corruption. Consequentially, the left wing Meretz party quit the coalition after they failed to agree on the powers to be given to a Shas deputy minister in the Ministry of Education.

Ehud Barak shaking hands with Yassir Arafat, joined by President Clinton (1999)

In 1999 Barak gave a campaign promise to end Israel's 22-year long occupation of Southern Lebanon within a year. On 24 May 2000 Israel withdrew from Southern Lebanon. On 7 October, three Israeli soldiers were killed in a border raid by Hezbollah and their bodies were subsequently captured. The bodies of these soldiers, along with the living Elhanan Tenenbaum, were eventually exchanged for Lebanese captives in 2004.

The Barak government resumed peace negotiations with the PLO, stating that “Every attempt [by the State of Israel] to keep hold of this area [the West Bank and Gaza] as one political entity leads, necessarily, to either a nondemocratic or a non-Jewish state. Because if the Palestinians vote, then it is a binational state, and if they don’t vote it is an apartheid state.”^[8] As part of these negotiations, Barak took part in the Camp David 2000 Summit which was meant finally to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but failed. Barak also allowed Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami to attend the Taba Summit with the leadership of the Palestinian Authority, after his government had fallen.

Domestic issues[link]

In August 1999, Barak appointed the Tal committee which dealt with the controversial issue of ultra-Orthodox Jews' exemption from military service. Riots in October 2000 led to the killing of twelve Israeli-Arabs and one Palestinian by Israel Police and one Jewish civilian by Israeli Arabs.

Resignation[link]

In 2001 Barak called a special election for Prime Minister. In the contest, he was defeated by Likud leader Ariel Sharon, and subsequently resigned as Labor leader and from the Knesset. He left Israel to work as a senior advisor with United States-based Electronic Data Systems. He also partnered with a private equity company focused on "security-related" work.

Return to politics[link]

In 2005, Barak announced his return to Israeli politics, and ran for leadership of the Labor Party in November. However, in light of his weak poll showings, Barak dropped out of the race early and declared his support for veteran statesman Shimon Peres. Following his failed attempt to maintain leadership of the Labor party, Barak became a partner of the investment company SCP Private Equity Partners, Pennsylvania. He also established a company "Ehud Barak Limited" which is thought to have made over NIS 30 million.^[9]

After Peres lost the race to Amir Peretz and left the Labor party, Barak announced he would stay at the party, despite his shaky relationship with its newly elected leader. He declared, however, that he would not run for a spot on the Labor party's Knesset list for the March 2006 elections. Barak's attempt to return to a prominent role in Israel politics seemed to have failed. However, Peretz's hold on the Labor leadership proved unexpectedly shaky as he was badly damaged by negative views of his performance as Defense Minister during the 2006 Lebanon War, which was seen as something less than a success in Israel.^[10]

In January 2007 Barak launched a bid to recapture the leadership of the Labor party in a letter acknowledging "mistakes" and "inexperience" during his tenure as Prime Minister.^[11] In early March 2007, a poll of Labor Party primary voters put Barak ahead of all other opponents, including Peretz.^[12] In the first round of voting, on 28 May 2007, he gained 39% of the votes, more than his two closest rivals, but not enough to win the election.^[13]

As a result, Barak faced a runoff against the second-place finisher, Ami Ayalon, on 12 June 2007, which he won by a narrow margin.^[14]

Barak has been critical of what he sees as racist sentiments that have recently been expressed by some Israeli rabbis and rebbetzins; he views such statements as a threat to Israeli unity and that they may lead Israeli society into a "dark and dangerous place".^[15]

Defense Minister[link]

Ehud Barak and Condoleezza Rice (2007)

As head of the Labor Party[link]

After winning back the leadership of the Labor party, Barak was sworn in as Minister of Defense on 18 June 2007, as part of Prime Minister Olmert's cabinet reshuffle. However on 1 July 2007, Barak led a successful effort in the Labor central committee to stipulate that Labor would leave the government coalition if Olmert did not resign by September or October 2007. At that time the Winograd Commission would publish its final report on the performance of the Israel Defense Forces and its civilian leadership. The preliminary Winograd report released earlier this year laid most of the blame on Olmert for poorly planning, executing, and reviewing war strategies in the 2006 conflict against Hezbollah.^{[citation needed]}

During December 2008 through January 2009, Barak led (as defense minister) Operation Cast Lead.

Labor won only 13 out of the 120 Knesset seats in the 2009 elections, making them the fourth largest party. Barak and other Labor officials initially stated they would not take part in the next government. However, over the objections of some in the Labor party, Barak later^[when?] reached an agreement under which Labor joined the governing coalition. Barak retained his position as Defense Minister.

Leaving the Labor Party[link]

In January 2011, Labor Party leader Barak formed a breakaway party, Independence, which enabled him to maintain his loyal Labor's MK faction within Netanyahu's government, and prevented the departure of Labor party as a whole from Netanyahu's coalition-government. Labor previously threatened to force Barak to do so. After Barak's move, Netanyahu was able to maintain a majority of 66 MK (out of 120 in the Knesset), previously having 74 MKs within his majority coalition.

In February 2011, Barak attended a ceremony at the UN for the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. Barak told the UN General Assembly: “an independent, strong, thriving and peaceful State of Israel is the vengeance of the dead. On this day, when we remember the six million victims, let us also remember two lessons: first, ‘the Holocaust – never again.’ And second – an independent, strong, thriving and peaceful State of Israel is the vengeance of the dead.”^[16]

Barak stated during an American television interview that he would "probably" strive for nuclear weapons if he were in Iran’s position, adding "I don’t delude myself that they are doing it just because of Israel".^[17] This comment has been criticized and compared to Barak's comment in 1998 during a television interview when he said that if he were a Palestinian he would probably have joined one of the terror organizations.^[17]

References in popular culture[link]

• The film Munich includes a scene reflecting the real Barak's experience leading his Sayeret Matkal unit in the commando raid Operation Spring of Youth; he is mentioned by name, and appears disguised as a woman in high heels while firing on presumed PLO Leaders.^[18]

See also[link]

	Israel portal
	Biography portal

• List of Israel's Chiefs of the General Staff

References[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ehud Barak

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ehud Barak

Bibliography[link]

• Bregman, Ahron Elusive Peace: How the Holy Land Defeated America.
• Clinton, Bill (2005). My Life. Vintage. ISBN 1-4000-3003-X.
• Dromi, Uri (5 November 2005). "Still craving peace 10 years after Rabin". New Straits Times, p. 20.

External links[link]

• Ehud Barak – official site (Hebrew)
• Ehud Barak Knesset website
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Ehud Barak on Charlie Rose
• Ehud Barak at the Internet Movie Database
• Ehud Barak collected news and commentary at Al Jazeera English
• Ehud Barak collected news and commentary at The Electronic Intifada
• Ehud Barak collected news and commentary at The Jerusalem Post
• Ehud Barak collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Works by or about Ehud Barak in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Ehud Barak at the Notable Names Database
• Defense Minister Ehud Barak at Ynetnews, profile

v t e Heads of the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate Be'eri (1948–49) · Herzog (1949–50) · Gibli (1950–55) · Harkabi (1955–59) · Herzog (1959–62) · Amit (1962–63) · Yariv (1964–72) · Zeira (1972–74) · Gazit (1974–78) · Saguy (1979–83) · Barak (1983–85) · Lipkin-Shahak (1986–91) · Sagi (1991–95) · Ya'alon (1995–98) · Malka (1998–2002) · Ze'evi-Farkash (2002–06) · Yadlin (2006–2010) · Kochavi (2010–)

v t e Deputy Chiefs of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces Tzvi Ayalon (1948–49) Mordechai Maklef (1949–52) Haim Laskov (1955–56) Tzvi Tzur (1958) Yitzhak Rabin (1961–63) Haim Bar-Lev (1967–68) Israel Tal (1973) Yekutiel Adam (1978–82) Moshe Levi (1982–83) David Ivry (1983–85) Dan Shomron (1985–86) Amir Drori (1986–87) Ehud Barak (1987–91) Amnon Lipkin-Shahak (1991–94) Matan Vilnai (1994–97) Shaul Mofaz (1997–98) Uzi Dayan (1998–99) Moshe Ya'alon (1999–2002) Gabi Ashkenazi (2002–04) Dan Halutz (2004–05) Moshe Kaplinsky (2005–07) Dan Harel (2007–09) Benny Gantz (2009–10) Yair Naveh (2010–present)

v t e Chiefs of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces Yaakov Dori (1947–49) Yigael Yadin (1949–52) Mordechai Maklef (1952–53) Moshe Dayan (1953–58) Haim Laskov (1958–61) Tzvi Tzur (1961–64) Yitzhak Rabin (1964–68) Haim Bar-Lev (1968–72) David Elazar (1972–74) Mordechai Gur (1974–78) Rafael Eitan (1978–83) Moshe Levi (1983–87) Dan Shomron (1987–91) Ehud Barak (1991–95) Amnon Lipkin-Shahak (1995–98) Shaul Mofaz (1998–2002) Moshe Ya'alon (2002–05) Dan Halutz (2005–07) Gabi Ashkenazi (2007–2011) Benny Gantz (2011–present)

v t e Prime Ministers of Israel Ben-Gurion (1948–53) Sharett (1953–55) Ben-Gurion (1955–63) Eshkol (1963–69) Allon (acting) Meir (1969–74) Rabin (1974–77) Begin (1977–83) Shamir (1983–84) Peres (1984–86) Shamir (1986–92) Rabin (1992–95) Peres (1995–96) Netanyahu (1996–99) Barak (1999–2001) Sharon (2001–06) Olmert (2006–09) Netanyahu (2009–present)

v t e Agriculture and Rural Development Ministers of Israel Zisling (1948–49) Yosef (1949–50) Lavon (1950–51) Eshkol (1951–52) Naftali (1952–55) Luz (1955–59) Dayan (1959–64) Gvati (1964–74) Uzan (1974–77) Sharon (1977–81) Erlich (1981–83) Begin (1983) Grupper (1983–84) Nehemkin (1984–88) Katz-Oz (1988–90) Eitan (1990–91) Tzur (1992–96) Eitan (1996–99) Oron (1999–2000) Barak (2000–01) Simhon (2001–02) Livni (2002–03) Katz (2003–06) Boim (2006) Simhon (2006–11) Noked (2011–)

v t e Defense Ministers of Israel Ben-Gurion (1948–54) Lavon (1954–55) Ben-Gurion (1955–63) Eshkol (1963–67) Dayan (1967–74) Peres (1974–77) Weizman (1977–80) Begin (1980–81) Sharon (1981–83) Arens (1983–84) Rabin (1984–90) Shamir (1990) Arens (1990–92) Rabin (1992–95) Peres (1995–96) Mordechai (1996–99) Arens (1999) Barak (1999–2001) Ben-Eliezer (2001–02) Mofaz (2002–06) Peretz (2006–07) Barak (2007–)

v t e Education Ministers of Israel Shazar (1949–50) Remez (1950–51) Ben-Gurion (1951) Dinur (1951–55) Aran (1955–60) Eban (1960–63) Aran (1963–69) Allon (1969–74) Yadlin (1974–77) Hammer (1977–84) Navon (1984–90) Hammer (1990–92) Aloni (1992–93) Rabin (1993) Rubinstein (1993–96) Hammer (1996–98) Levy (1998–99) Sarid (1999–2000) Barak (2000–01) Livnat (2001–06) Sheetrit (2006) Tamir (2006–09) Sa'ar (2009–)

v t e Foreign Affairs Ministers of Israel Sharett (1948–56) Meir (1956–66) Eban (1966–74) Allon (1974–77) Dayan (1977–79) Shamir (1980–86) Peres (1986–88) Arens (1988–90) Levy (1990–92) Peres (1992–95) Barak (1995–96) Levy (1996–98) Sharon (1998–99) Levy (1999–2000) Ben-Ami (2000–01) Peres (2001–02) Netanyahu (2002–03) Shalom (2003–06) Livni (2006–09) Lieberman (2009–)

v t e Immigrant Absorption Ministers of Israel Shapira (1948–51) Allon (1968–69) Peres (1969–70) Peled (1970–74) Rosen (1974–77) Levy (1977–81) Abuhatzira (1981–82) Uzan (1982–84) Tzur (1984–88) Peretz (1988–92) Tzaban (1992–96) Edelstein (1996–99) Barak (1999) Tamir (1999–2001) Sharon (2001–03) Livni (2003–06) Boim (2006–07) Edri (2007–08) Aflalo (2008–09) Landver (2009–)

v t e Industry, Trade and Labour Ministers of Israel Bernstein (1948–49) Kaplan (1949–50) Geri (1950–51) Yosef (1951–52) Bernstein (1952–55) Naftali (1955) Sapir (1955–65) Zadok (1965–66) Sherf (1966–69) Sapir (1969–70) Sapir (1970–72) Bar-Lev (1972–77) Hurvitz (1977–78) Patt (1979–84) Sharon (1984–90) Nissim (1990–92) Harish (1992–96) Sharansky (1996–99) Cohen (1999–2000) Barak (2000–01) Itzik (2001–02) Sharon (2002–03) Olmert (2003–06) Yishai (2006–09) Ben-Eliezer (2009–11) Simhon (2011–)

v t e Internal Affairs Ministers of Israel Gruenbaum (1948–49) Shapira (1949–52) Rokach (1952–55) Shapira (1955) Bar-Yehuda (1955–59) Shapira (1959–70) Meir (1970) Burg (1970–74) Hillel (1974) Burg (1974–76) Hillel (1977) Burg (1977–84) Peres (1984) Peretz (1984–87) Shamir (1987–88) Deri (1988–93) Rabin (1993) Deri (1993) Rabin (1993–95) Baram (1995) Libai (1995) Barak (1995) Ramon (1995–96) Suissa (1996–99) Sharansky (1999–2000) Ramon (2000–01) Yishai (2001–02) Sharon (2002) Yishai (2002–03) Poraz (2003–04) Pines-Paz (2005) Sharon (2004–06) Bar-On (2006–07) Sheetrit (2007–09)) Yishai (from 2009)

v t e Science and Technology Ministers of Israel Ne'eman (1982–84) Patt (1984–88) Weizman (1988–90) Ne'eman (1990–92) Rubinstein (1992) Sheetrit (1992–93) Aloni (1993–96) Begin (1996–97) Netanyahu (1996–97) Eitan (1997–98) Shalom (1998–99) Barak (1999) Vilnai (1999–2001) Sandberg (2003–04) Shalgi (2004) Brailovsky (2004) Vilnai (2005) Bar-On (2006) Pines-Paz (2006) Majadele (2007–09) Hershkowitz (2009–)

v t e Tourism Ministers of Israel Govrin (1964–66) Kol (1966–77) Patt (1981) Sharir (1981–88) Patt (1988–92) Baram (1992–96) Katsav (1996–99) Barak (1999) Lipkin-Shahak (1999–2001) Ze'evi (2001) Elon (2001–02) Levy (2002–03) Elon (2003–04) Ezra (2004–05) Hirschson (2005–06) Herzog (2006–07) Aharonovich (2007–08) Avraham (2008–09) Misezhnikov (2009–)

Wolf Blitzer
Blitzer at Democratic Party presidential primary debate in Los Angeles, California, January 31, 2008
Born	Wolf Isaac Blitzer (1948-03-22) March 22, 1948 (age 64) Augsburg, Germany
Education	University at Buffalo (BA) Johns Hopkins University (MA)
Occupation	Journalist
Years active	1972–present
Title	CNN The Situation Room anchor
Religion	Jewish[1]
Website
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/blitzer.wolf.html

Wolf Isaac Blitzer (born March 22, 1948) is an American journalist who has been a CNN reporter since 1990. Blitzer is currently the host of the newscast The Situation Room and was the host of the Sunday talk show Late Edition until it was discontinued on January 11, 2009. Blitzer previously hosted Wolf Blitzer Reports, which was replaced by The Situation Room.

Early life[link]

The son of Jewish refugees from Poland,^[2] Wolf Blitzer was born in Augsburg, Germany^[3][4] and raised in Buffalo, New York. Blitzer graduated from Kenmore West Senior High School and received a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University at Buffalo in 1970. While there, he was a brother of Alpha Epsilon Pi. In 1972, he received a Master of Arts in international relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. While at Johns Hopkins, Blitzer studied abroad at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he learned Hebrew.^[5]

Name[link]

Blitzer has said that he has frequently been asked about his name, which has been characterized as seemingly "made-for-TV".^[6] In a Wayne's World Saturday Night Live sketch which was aired during the Persian Gulf War, Wayne and Garth picked Blitzer as having the "worst name" of any war correspondent, with Garth remarking, "It's so obvious the guy made it up for the war!" ^[7] Blitzer explains that his surname goes back for generations, and his first name, 'Wolf', is the same first name as his maternal grandfather.

In writing for several Israeli newspapers in Washington, Blitzer has used the names Zev Blitzer and Zev Barak.^[8] Zev (זאב) is the Hebrew word for "wolf".

Career[link]

Washington and Jerusalem[link]

Blitzer began his career in journalism in the early 1970s in the Tel Aviv bureau of the Reuters news agency. In 1973 he caught the eye of Jerusalem Post editor Ari Rath, who hired Blitzer as a Washington correspondent for the English language Israeli newspaper. Blitzer would remain with the Jerusalem Post until 1990, covering both American politics and developments in the Middle East.^[9]

In the mid-1970s, Blitzer also contributed to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as the editor of their monthly publication, the Near East Report.^[10][11] While at AIPAC, Blitzer's writing focused on Middle East affairs as they relate to United States foreign policy.

At an April 1977 White House press conference, Blitzer asked Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat why Egyptian scholars, athletes and journalists were not permitted to visit Israel. Sadat, somewhat taken aback, responded that such visits would be possible after an end to the state of belligerence between the two nations. This was Sadat's first public acknowledgment that peace between Egypt and Israel was possible. In November of that year, Sadat made a historic visit to Israel, and Blitzer covered the negotiations between the two countries from the first joint Israeli-Egyptian press conference in 1977 to the final negotiations that would lead to the signing of the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty two years later.^[9]

Fluent in Hebrew, in this period Blitzer also published articles for several Israeli-based newspapers. Under the name Zev Blitzer, he wrote for Al HaMishmar; using the name Zev Barak, he had work published in Yedioth Ahronoth.^[8]

In 1985, Blitzer published his first book, Between Washington and Jerusalem: A Reporter's Notebook (Oxford University Press, 1985). The text outlined his personal development as a reporter, and the relations between the United States and Israel.

Jonathan Pollard[link]

In 1986, he became known for his coverage of the arrest and trial of Jonathan Pollard, an American Jew who was charged with spying for Israel.^[9] Blitzer was the first journalist to interview Pollard, and he would later write a book about the Pollard Affair titled Territory of Lies.^[12] In the book, Blitzer writes that Pollard contacted him because he had been reading Blitzer's byline for years, and because Blitzer "had apparently impressed him as someone who was sympathetic".^[13] Pollard also hoped that Blitzer would help him "reach the people of Israel, as well as the American Jewish community."^[14]

Blitzer's interview with Pollard was controversial in the context of the legal action against him, as it was construed by some media voices as a possible violation of the terms of Pollard's plea deal, which forbade media contact. Blitzer's subsequent book about the affair was included in The New York Times list of "Notable Books of the Year" for 1989.^[15] In its review, the Times praised the book as "lucid and highly readable" and called Blitzer's judgment of Israeli officials "harsh but fair".^[16]

A review in The New York Review of Books was more critical, prompting a letter from Blitzer accusing the reviewer of making several inaccurate statements. Reviewer Robert I. Friedman responded to Blitzer's criticism by characterizing Territory of Lies as "a slick piece of damage control that would make [Blitzer's] former employers at AIPAC (not to mention Israel's Defense Ministry) proud."^[17]

Cable News Network[link]

Blitzer reviews notes during a break from presenting from the floor of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.

In May 1990, Blitzer moved to CNN and worked as the cable network's military affairs reporter. Blitzer spent a month in Moscow in 1991, and was one of the first Western reporters to visit KGB headquarters. His team's coverage of the first Gulf War in Kuwait won a CableACE Award and made him a household name.

In 1992, Blitzer became CNN's White House correspondent, a position he would hold until 1999. During this period, he earned an Emmy Award for his coverage of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. In 1998, he began hosting the CNN Sunday morning interview program Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, which was seen in over 180 countries. Blitzer's first assignment as an anchor was on the daily newscast The World Today, in 1999. In 2000, he started anchoring his own show, Wolf Blitzer Reports.

CNN selected Blitzer to anchor their coverage of the 2004 presidential election and the 2008 presidential election. Since August 8, 2005, Blitzer has hosted The Situation Room, a three-hour afternoon/early evening program on CNN.^[18][19]

Awards[link]

Blitzer has won awards including the 2004 Journalist Pillar of Justice Award from the Respect for Law Alliance and the 2003 Daniel Pearl Award from the Chicago Press Veterans Association. His news team was among those awarded a George Foster Peabody Award for coverage of Hurricane Katrina, an Alfred I. DuPont Award for coverage of the 1999 Southeast Asian tsunami, and an Edward R. Murrow Award for CNN's coverage of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

In November 2002, he won the American Veteran Awards' Ernie Pyle Journalism Award for military reporting. In February 2000, he received the Anti-Defamation League’s Hubert H. Humphrey First Amendment Freedoms Prize. In 1999, Blitzer won the International Platform Association's Lowell Thomas Broadcast Journalism Award. Blitzer won an Emmy Award for his coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing. Blitzer was also part of the CNN team that was awarded a Golden ACE award for their 1991 Gulf War reporting. In 1994, American Journalism Review cited him and CNN as the readers' choice for the Best in the Business Award for network coverage of the Clinton administration.^[18] On May 23, 2010, Blitzer was awarded the honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Niagara University at their undergraduate commencement exercise. Also, on May 14, 2011 he received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Penn State University. On September 25, 2011, Blitzer was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by the University of Hartford.^[20]

Other media appearances[link]

Blitzer appears as himself in the 2009 documentary "Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace." The film deals with the back room negotiations that lead to the historic 1979 Peace Treaty between Israel and Egypt. At the time, Blitzer was the Washington Bureau Chief of the Jerusalem Post, and played a key role in establishing a back channel of communications between Israel and the White House by introducing President Carter's General Counsel, Robert Lipshutz, to New York businessman Leon Charney, a close friend of then Israeli Defense Minister Ezer Weizman.^[21] The flow of information between Weizman and Carter, via Charney and Lipshutz, contributed to finalizing the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt.

On September 17, 2009, Blitzer competed on an episode of Celebrity Jeopardy!, finishing the Double Jeopardy round with −$4,600. He was given $1,000 to bet in Final Jeopardy!, finishing with $2,000 and ultimately losing to comedian Andy Richter, who won $68,000 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.^[22][23] In an odd twist, a minor league soccer team from Blitzer's home town of Buffalo held a nickname contest and FC Buffalo's winner was "Blitzers."

Family[link]

Blitzer and his wife Lynn Greenfield live in Bethesda, Maryland, and have one daughter, Ilana, born in 1981.^[24]  

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wolf Blitzer

• CNN bio
• CNN.com — The Situation Room
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Wolf Blitzer on Charlie Rose
• Wolf Blitzer at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Wolf Blitzer in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Wolf Blitzer at the Notable Names Database
• "Wolf Blitzer for the Defense (Department)", Jim Naureckas, FAIR Extra!, January/February 2003
• Google Video on Israel Discussion - Held Nov 1989.

Leon Panetta
23rd United States Secretary of Defense
Incumbent
Assumed office July 1, 2011
President	Barack Obama
Deputy	William Lynn Ashton Carter
Preceded by	Robert Gates
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
In office February 13, 2009 – June 30, 2011
President	Barack Obama
Deputy	Stephen Kappes Michael Morell
Preceded by	Michael Hayden
Succeeded by	Michael Morell (Acting) David Petraeus
18th White House Chief of Staff
In office July 17, 1994 – January 20, 1997
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Mack McLarty
Succeeded by	Erskine Bowles
29th Director of the Office of Management and Budget
In office January 21, 1993 – July 17, 1994
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Richard Darman
Succeeded by	Alice Rivlin
Chairman of the House Committee on the Budget
In office January 3, 1989 – January 21, 1993
Preceded by	William Gray
Succeeded by	Martin Sabo
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 17th district
In office January 3, 1993 – January 21, 1993
Preceded by	Burt Talcott
Succeeded by	Sam Farr
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 16th district
In office January 3, 1977 – January 3, 1993
Preceded by	Burt Talcott
Succeeded by	Don Edwards
Personal details
Born	Leon Edward Panetta (1938-06-28) June 28, 1938 (age 73) Monterey, California, U.S.
Political party	Democratic Party (1971–present)
Other political affiliations	Republican Party (Before 1971)
Spouse(s)	Sylvia
Alma mater	Santa Clara University
Profession	Lawyer Professor Politician Statesman
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Military service
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1964–1966
Rank	First Lieutenant
Awards	Army Commendation Medal

Leon Edward Panetta (born June 28, 1938) is the 23rd and current United States Secretary of Defense, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama since 2011. Prior to taking office, he served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. An Italian-American Democratic politician, lawyer, and professor, Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997, Director of the Office of Management and Budget from 1993–1994, and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993. He is the founder of the Panetta Institute for Public Policy, served as Distinguished Scholar to Chancellor Charles B. Reed of the California State University System and professor of public policy at Santa Clara University.

In January 2009, President Obama nominated Panetta for the post of CIA Director.^[1][2] Panetta was confirmed by the full Senate in February 2009. As director of the CIA, Panetta oversaw the U.S. military operation that led to Osama bin Laden's death.

On April 28, 2011, Obama announced the nomination of Panetta as Defense Secretary when Robert Gates retired. In June the Senate confirmed Panetta unanimously as Secretary of Defense. He assumed the office on July 1.^[3] David Petraeus took over as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on September 6.^[4]

Early life, education, and military service[link]

Leon Panetta was born in Monterey, California, the son of Carmelina Maria and Carmelo Frank Panetta, Italian immigrants from Siderno in Calabria^[5] who owned a restaurant in Monterey. He was raised in the Monterey area, and attended Catholic schools San Carlos Grammar School and Carmel Mission School. He continued his education at Monterey High School, a public school where he became involved in student politics, and was a JSA member.^[6] As a junior he was Vice President of the Student Body, and became President of the Student Body as a senior.^[7]

In 1956, he entered Santa Clara University, and in 1960 he graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He also received a Juris Doctor in 1963 from the Santa Clara University School of Law. In 1964, he joined the United States Army as a Second Lieutenant, where he served as an officer in Army Military Intelligence.^[8] There he received the Army Commendation Medal, and was discharged in 1966 as a First Lieutenant.^[9]

Political career[link]

Panetta started in politics in 1966 as a legislative assistant to Republican Senator Thomas Kuchel, the United States Senate Minority Whip from California, whom Panetta has called "a tremendous role model".^[10]

In 1969 he became the assistant to Robert H. Finch, Secretary of the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare under the Nixon administration. Soon thereafter he was appointed Director of the Office for Civil Rights.^[11]

Panetta chose to enforce civil rights and equal education laws.^{[citation needed]} Secretary Robert Finch and Assistant Secretary John Veneman refused to fire Panetta, threatening to resign if forced to do so.^{[citation needed]} A few weeks later in 1970, Panetta resigned and left Washington to work as Executive Assistant for John Lindsay, the Republican Mayor of New York City. He wrote about this experience in his 1971 book Bring Us Together."

He moved back to Monterey to practice law at Panetta, Thompson & Panetta from 1971 through to 1976.^[12]

Congressional work[link]

Panetta switched to the Democratic Party in 1971, because he thought that the Republican Party was moving away from the political center."Leon Panetta B.S. '60, J.D. '63". Lawyers Who Lead. Santa Clara University School of Law. http://law.scu.edu/lawyerswholead/leon-panetta.cfm. Retrieved March 29, 2012.  In 1976, Panetta was elected to the U.S. Congress to represent California's 16th congressional district, unseating incumbent Republican Burt Talcott with 53% of the vote (the 17th district after the 1990 census), and was reelected for nine terms.^[13][14][15]

During his time in Congress, his work concentrated mostly on budget issues, civil rights, education, healthcare. agriculture, immigration, and environmental issues, particularly preventing oil drilling off the California coast. He wrote the Hunger Prevention Act (Public Law 100-435) of 1988 and the Fair Employment Practices Resolution. He was the author of legislation establishing the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary,^[16] and legislation providing Medicare coverage for hospice service.

His positions included:

• Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on the Budget
• Chairman of the Agriculture Committee's Subcommittee on Domestic Marketing, Consumer Relations, and Nutrition
• Chairman of the Administration Committee's Subcommittee on Personnel and Police
• Chairman of the Task Force on Domestic Hunger created by the U.S. House Select Committee on Hunger
• Vice Chairman of the Caucus of Vietnam-Era Veterans in Congress
• Member of the President's Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies.

Budget work[link]

A member of the U.S. House Committee on the Budget from 1979 to 1985 — and its chairman from 1989 to 1993 — he played a key role in the 1990 Budget Summit.^[17][18]

Though elected to a ninth term, he left the House in 1993 after President Bill Clinton selected him to be Director of the United States Office of Management and Budget. He is credited with developing the budget package that would eventually result in the balanced budget of 1998. On July 17, 1994, he was appointed White House Chief of Staff by Clinton, a position he held until January 20, 1997. He was an important negotiator of the 1996 budget, which was another important step towards balancing the budget.^[19][20]

Nomination as CIA Director[link]

President Barack Obama nominated him to the post of Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on January 5, 2009.^[1]

After his selection, journalists and politicians raised concerns about his lack of intelligence experience.

Washington Post columnist David Ignatius said that Panetta did have tangential exposure to intelligence operations as Director of the OMB and as Chief of Staff for President Clinton, where he "sat in on the daily intelligence briefings as chief of staff, and he reviewed the nation's most secret intelligence-collection and covert-action programs in his previous post as director of the Office of Management and Budget".^[21] Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democratic chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, wasn't happy with the Leon Panetta selection:

“I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA Director. I know nothing about this, other than what I’ve read. My position has consistently been that I believe the Agency is best-served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time.”^[22]

Former CIA officer Ishmael Jones stated, that Panetta was a wise choice because of his close personal connection to the President and lack of exposure to the CIA bureaucracy.^[23][24]

On February 12, 2009, Panetta was confirmed in the full Senate by voice vote.^[25]

Director of the CIA[link]

Panetta as Director of the CIA.

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Message from the Director: Interrogation Policy and Contracts

On February 19, 2009, Leon Panetta was sworn in as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency by Vice President Joe Biden before an audience of CIA employees. Panetta reportedly received a "rock star welcome" from his new subordinates.^[26]

In March 2009, Panetta visited India to discuss a host of issues including common strategy on dealing with Islamic extremism and Taliban. This was his first international visit since he assumed office.^[27]

Panetta supported U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, which he identified as the "most effective weapon" against senior Al-Qaeda leadership.^[28][29] These attacks increased significantly under Panetta, with as many as 50 suspected Al-Qaeda militants being killed in May 2009 alone.^[30][31][32]

As Director of the CIA, Panetta presided over the operations that led to Osama bin Laden's death on May 1, 2011.

Secretary of Defense[link]

Panetta being sworn in as Secretary of Defense.

On April 28, 2011, President Obama announced the nomination of Panetta as United States Secretary of Defense as a replacement for retiring Secretary Robert Gates. On June 21, 2011, the United States Senate confirmed Panetta in a 100-0 vote.^[33] He was sworn in on July 1, 2011. One of Panetta's first major acts as Defense Secretary was to jointly certify with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the military was prepared to repeal "don't ask, don't tell", triggering final repeal after 60 days.

In August 2011 Panetta said that deeper cuts in the defense budget risked hollowing out the military and would hamper Pentagon efforts to deal with rising powers such as China, North Korea and Iran. It was the second day in a row that Panetta issued a public warning to Congress not to go beyond the roughly $400 billion in defense cuts required over the next decade under the debt reduction bill signed by President Obama. "You cannot deal with the size deficits the country is confronting by simply cutting the discretionary side of the budget," he said, referring to defense and other portions of the budget that Congress appropriates annually. "You have got to look at the mandatory side of the budget, which is two-thirds of the federal budget, and you also have to look at revenue."^[34]

Like Gates before him, Panetta has fielded questions from the troops about their entitlements. He has said that future soldiers may see changes in retirement benefits and that healthcare may need reforms to protect care while reining in costs.^[35]

When the supercommittee did not approve a deficit reduction plan^[36] Panetta said “The failure of the congressional supercommittee to reach an agreement on deficit reduction is a setback for the country's efforts to achieve fiscal responsibility while protecting our national security”. He added that “If Congress fails to act over the next year, the Department of Defense will face devastating, automatic, across-the-board cuts that will tear a seam in the nation's defense”.^[37]

I join the President in his call for Congress to avoid an easy way out of this crisis,...Congress cannot simply turn off the sequester mechanism, but instead must pass deficit reduction at least equal to the $1.2 trillion it was charged to pass under the Budget Control Act of 2011.

In January 2012 Panetta, speaking to soldiers at Fort Bliss in Texas, said that the United States is keeping all its options on the table, including military ones with regard to Iran. “Clearly there are those areas that for us are red lines,” Panetta said. “Number one, we cannot allow them to develop a nuclear weapon. That’s a red line. Number two, we cannot tolerate Iran blocking the Straits of Hormuz.”^[38]

Activities outside politics[link]

Panetta and his wife founded the Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy in December 1998, where they serve as the Institute's directors. The Institute is located at California State University, Monterey Bay. Panetta was instrumental in creating CSU Monterey Bay by converting Fort Ord, where he was chief of operations and planning of the intelligence section when he was in the army, into the university. Panetta served as Distinguished Scholar to the Chancellor of California State University^[39] and as Presidential Professor at Santa Clara University. He was urged to consider running for Governor of California during the recall election in 2003, but declined in part because of the short time available to raise money.^[40]

Panetta has long been an advocate for the health of the world's oceans. As a member of Congress from California’s 16th District, he wrote numerous successful acts of Congress to protect the California coast, including legislation creating the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.^[39][41][42] In 2003, Panetta was named chairman and commissioner of the Pew Oceans Commission, which in 2005 combined with the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy to establish the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative. Panetta now co-chairs the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative with Admiral James D. Watkins, U.S. Navy (Ret.).^[43] Panetta continues to pursue his commitment to ocean and marine life issues, serving as a resource for legislators and the media, advocating for ocean reform on behalf of the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative as well as other ocean organizations, including the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation^[44] and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.^[45]

In 2006 he was part of the Iraq Study Group, also known as the Baker Commission.^[46][47]

In 2009 Panetta delivered the commencement speech to the graduating class at The University of Maryland at College Park, emphasising the importance of public service and leadership.^[48][49]

Responsibilities[link]

Joint Ocean Commission Initiative^[50]

• Commissioner and Co-Chair^[51]

Pew Oceans Commission

• Commissioner^[52]

Bread for the World

• Board of Directors

National Marine Sanctuary Foundation

• Member of the Board of Directors^[53]

National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management

• Board of Directors, 2004–2009

New York Stock Exchange

• Co-chairman of the Corporate Accountability and Listing Standards Committee
• Board of Directors since 1997

Close Up Foundation

• Board of Directors, Member since 1999

Connetics Investor Relations

• Board of Directors since March 2000^[54]

Fleishman-Hillard^[55]