14 lines
No EOL
1.1 KiB
Markdown
14 lines
No EOL
1.1 KiB
Markdown
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category: "Nuclear Scientists & Programs"
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tags:
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- Person
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- Nuclear
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- Israel
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summary: "State Department Middle East expert who revealed that Israeli nuclear intelligence was treated as a strictly taboo subject within the U.S. bureaucracy."
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---
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David E. Long was a [[State Department]] [[Middle East]] expert. He explained that the Israeli nuclear issue was taboo within the bureaucracy, and that [[State Department]] and [[Pentagon]] staff officers who wanted to learn more about [[Israel]]'s nuclear weapons could not, because such intelligence carried the highest classification. Long recalled being informally questioned by diplomats from the [[Middle East]] about [[Israel]]'s nuclear arms, and his response was always that "we don't know anything and here is what the Israelis say." He refused a superior's request to put this response in writing, arguing that delivering a deliberately false impression went beyond subterfuge.[^1]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 16. |