JINSA functions as an
Israel and weapons lobby group whose mission is to inform several groups (such as defense organizations, administration officials, congress, and its 20,000 members) about how vital it is to support U's.-Israeli cooperation on security issues. They view cooperation between these two groups as vital to maintaining and spreading
democracy in the
Middle East. In other words,
United States and Israeli interests are largely one and the same. (1) (2) (4)
Since 1976 the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) has played a key role in cementing ties between U's. and Israeli armed forces and military industries. With groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) lobbying Congress for increased aid to Israel, JINSA zeros in on the U's. military network to increase strategic (and financial) links with Israel’s military-industrial complex. In addition to the generous flows of economic and military aid to Israel— accounting for one-sixth of all U's. foreign aid—the U's. military has underwritten the development of Israel’s armaments industry.
Former U's. flag officers—generals and admirals—have been the main target audience for JINSA's political education efforts. It organizes regular educational trips for retired military officers—especially those who are also consultants, investors, or board members of military contractors—to Israel, where they meet with Israeli political, military, and industry officials. Aside from building direct military-industry ties between the two countries, the trips also serve to forge a powerful pro- Israeli pressure group in the United States.
JINSA's two architects are husband and wife Stephen and Shoshana Bryen. Michael Ledeen was its first executive director, hired in 1977. Two years later, Stephen Bryen took the helm and his wife succeeded him in 1981. Stephen left in 1981 to become Deputy Undersecretary of Defense and was in charge of choosing which U's.-made defense toys Israel would buy with U's.-allocated military funds. (3)
In recent years, JINSA was one of the groups that most strongly supported the U's. invasion and occupation of Iraq. Former head of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board, Richard Perle, is a member of JINSA’s Board of Advisers and serves as a spokesman in furthering JINSA’s goals. Other former advisory board members include Dick Cheney, John Bolton, and Douglas Feith. Former administration officials from the Reagan era are James Woolsey, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and Michael Ledeen. Many individuals with defense backgrounds and affiliations serve on the board of advisers and are involved in numerous contracts with Israel. Leon Edney, David Jeremiah, and Charles May, former armed forces officers, have all been consultants to Northrop Grumman, which has built Israeli ships and planes. May, Paul Cerjan and Carlisle Trost have also worked for Lockheed Martin, which has sold F- 16s, flight simulators, and rocket systems to Israel. Trost is a member of the board of General Dynamics, whose subsidiary Gulfstream has a $206 million contract with the Pentagon. (4)
In 1991 JINSA’s operating budget was approximately $750,000. Thomas Neumann, JINSA’s executive director since 1991, boasted, “We receive 99.9, no, 100 percent of our funding from private donations.” Neumann said, “We receive no money from Israel or any defense contractors.” At the time, however, donors included Ronald Lauder (of Estee Lauder cosmetics), D.C. lobbyist Donald Agger, Atlantic Research Corporation, a defense contractor, the Smith-Kogod family, the Air Force Association, Armed Services Foundation, Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces, and the late Frank Sinatra. (3) In 2002 JINSA had a $1.4 million budget. According to Media Transparency, JINSA received a $25,000 grant from the Smith Richardson Foundation. (4) (6)
