In Nov. 2006, Time Magazine referred to Harman's blowing off a US intel
briefing to go hear a Saban Center briefing instead:
"When the Saban Center talks, I listen," Harman said at a Saban Center briefing in February on U.S. strategy in Iraq. Harman quipped that, in order to attend the session at Brookings, she had to "blow off" a senior intelligence official's appearance before a House committee."
This was the briefing, led by Kenneth Pollack, who pushed the Iraq war, a war Harman vigorously supported—
Feb 15 2006: Policy Luncheon on a New Strategy for America in Iraq
Iraq, Middle East, Terrorism, Islamic World
Event Summary
In November and December 2005, the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution convened a small group of experts on Iraq, the Iraq Policy Working Group, which under the direction of Kenneth M. Pollack, the Saban Center's Director of Research, elaborated an integrated alternative approach to the current U.S. military, political, and economic policies in Iraq. On February 15th, 2006 the Saban Center held a policy forum luncheon at which Kenneth Pollack: A Switch in Time: A New Strategy for America in Iraq, presented the end product,
One last thing about Pollack: He was one of two former White House officials (he was in and out of Gov' t) "mentioned in the indictment against Rosen and Weissman as government officials who provided information to the two former AIPAC employees."
Pollack is said to be a key part of the case that the gov't was building against Rosen and Weissman. And Pollack worked for Saban. I wonder whether this is how the government came to be tapping a call between Harman and an unidentified Israeli agent who claimed to be able to deliver Saban's money.
P.S. Earlier version of this post said Pollack served under Bush. Twas under Clinton, Mike Desch informs. Pollack left very early in Bush's first term.
