Person

Morton Halperin

Nationality:

American

Born:

1938

Occupation:

Political Advisor, Author

Residence:

Washington, D.C

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Morton Halperin is an activist and political advisor who has worked for the Nixon, Johnson, and Clinton administrations. He sits on the board of directors for ONE Action, is the chair emeritus for J Street, was a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, and has been a senior fellow in Foreign Policy Studies of the Brookings Institution, a senior associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and senior vice president of the left-of-center think tank Century Foundation. 1 2

Halperin also worked as the director of the Center for National Security Studies at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and as a director of U.S. Advocacy for the Open Society Foundations. 3 4

Career

Morton Halperin received a B.A. from Columbia College in 1958 and a Ph.D. in International Relations from Yale University in 1961. He was an assistant professor of government and a research associate at the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University in the early 1960s. Halperin also taught as a visiting professor at universities across the United States including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University, Yale, and Columbia University. 5

After leaving Harvard in 1966, Halperin became the deputy assistant secretary at the International Security Affairs sector of the Department of Defense until 1969. After leaving the Defense Department, he became a senior staff member of the White House National Security Council where he was responsible for national security planning. 6

Halperin served in the Johnson and Nixon administrations as well as the Clinton administration. From February 1994 to March 1996, he re-joined the National Security Council as a special assistant to President Bill Clinton and Senior Director for Democracy. Halperin was also a consultant to the Secretary of Defense and the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy in 1993 and was nominated by President Clinton to become the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Democracy and Peacekeeping. 7

Affiliated Organizations

Halperin has been associated with several organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Halperin was the director of the Center for National Security Studies at the ACLU from 1975 until 1992 and worked as the director of organizations’ Washington Office from 1984 to 1992. 8

Halperin was a senior fellow in Foreign Policy Studies of the Brookings Institution from September 1969 to December 1973. He was also a senior associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace from November 1992 to February 1994, a senior fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations from March 1996 to November 1998, and senior vice president of the left-of-center think tank Century Foundation. 9

He was also a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP) from June 2003 to December 2009. The Center for American Progress is a liberal Washington, D.C.-based think tank with strong ties to the Democratic Party establishment. It was founded in 2003 by John Podesta, formerly chief of staff to President Bill Clinton. 10 11

Halperin was also director of U.S. Advocacy for the Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly known as the Open Society Institute. OSF is a private grantmaking foundation created and funded by billionaire financier and liberal philanthropist George Soros and is the main hub of a Soros-funded network of more than 20 national and regional foundations, making it one of the largest political philanthropies in the world. Built on Soros’ left-wing redistributionist political philosophy, OSF gives away nearly a billion dollars per year to left-wing organizations around the world to advance Soros’ vision of an “open society.” Halperin works as a senior advisor to OSF and was also named as a lobbyist for the Open Society Policy Center, the lobbying group associated with the Open Society Network and the Open Society Foundations. 12 13 14 15

Halperin serves on the board of directors for ONE Action, a lobbying organization associated with the ONE Campaign that advocates for international anti-poverty policies. He is also the chair emeritus for J Street, a left-of-center lobbying organization focused on American-Israeli relations that conservative foreign policy experts have accused of undermining the state of Israel. 16 17 18

References

  1. “Morton Halperin – Biography.” U.S. Department of State. Accessed October 22, 2021. https://1997-2001.state.gov/about_state/biography/halperin.html.
  2. “Morton H. Halperin.” ONE. June 4, 2021. https://www.one.org/us/person/morton-h-halperin/.
  3. “Morton Halperin – Biography.” U.S. Department of State. Accessed October 22, 2021. https://1997-2001.state.gov/about_state/biography/halperin.html.
  4. “OSI Director Morton Halperin Testifies on FISA Rules before Senate Committee.” Open Society Foundations. Accessed October 22, 2021. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/newsroom/osi-director-morton-halperin-testifies-fisa-rules-senate-committee.
  5. “Morton Halperin – Biography.” U.S. Department of State. Accessed October 22, 2021. https://1997-2001.state.gov/about_state/biography/halperin.html.
  6. “Morton Halperin – Biography.” U.S. Department of State. Accessed October 22, 2021. https://1997-2001.state.gov/about_state/biography/halperin.html.
  7. “Morton Halperin – Biography.” U.S. Department of State. Accessed October 22, 2021. https://1997-2001.state.gov/about_state/biography/halperin.html.
  8. “Morton Halperin – Biography.” U.S. Department of State. Accessed October 22, 2021. https://1997-2001.state.gov/about_state/biography/halperin.html.
  9. “Morton Halperin – Biography.” U.S. Department of State. Accessed October 22, 2021. https://1997-2001.state.gov/about_state/biography/halperin.html.
  10. “Morton H. Halperin.” ONE. June 4, 2021. https://www.one.org/us/person/morton-h-halperin/.
  11. “Center for American Progress.” Activist Facts. July 23, 2014. https://www.activistfacts.com/organizations/528-center-for-american-progress/.
  12. “OSI Director Morton Halperin Testifies on FISA Rules before Senate Committee.” Open Society Foundations. Accessed October 22, 2021. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/newsroom/osi-director-morton-halperin-testifies-fisa-rules-senate-committee.
  13. “Morton H. Halperin.” ONE. June 4, 2021. https://www.one.org/us/person/morton-h-halperin/.
  14. George Soros. “The Capitalist Threat.” The Atlantic. May 9, 2019. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1997/02/the-capitalist-threat/376773/.
  15. “Open Society Policy Center Lobbyists.” OpenSecrets. Accessed October 22, 2021, https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/lobbyists?cycle=2005&id=D000055020.
  16. “Morton H. Halperin.” ONE. June 4, 2021. https://www.one.org/us/person/morton-h-halperin/.
  17. “Morton H. Halperin.” J Street. Accessed October 22, 2021. https://jstreet.org/about-us/board-of-directors/morton-h-halperin/#.YXLk8Z7MKUk.
  18. David M. Weinberg. “Is J Street Still pro-Israel?” Algemeiner.com. Accessed October 22, 2021, https://www.algemeiner.com/2018/12/23/is-j-street-still-pro-israel/.
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