American Hellenic Institute

2017bookcover

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Statement by the AHI General Counsel Gene Rossides On Richard Perle's Resignation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: CHRYSOULA ECONOMOPOULOS
March 28, 2003 No. 16 (202) 785-8430

Statement by the AHI General Counsel Gene Rossides
On Richard Perle's Resignation

The resignation of Richard N. Perle on March 27, 2003 from his position as chairman of the Defense Policy Board is an important step in eliminating a number of conflicts of interest posed by his presence on that board. We at the American Hellenic Institute (AHI) are pleased that government, public and media pressure has forced this important move. However, we are disturbed that Mr. Perle will remain as a member of that board, and we call on him to remove himself from the Defense Policy Board.

The history of Mr. Perle's activities is clear. He has profited enormously as a foreign consultant for Turkey from 1989-1994. Mr. Perle resigned from the Reagan Administration in 1987 before the end of the Cold War and went to Turkey and negotiated an $800,000 contract for International Advisors Inc. (IAI), a company which he initiated in 1988 and for which he recruited six former Executive Branch officials. He became a consultant to IAI and received $48,000 annually from 1989 to 1994. IAI—Turkey's foreign agent—registered with the Justice Department, received $800,000 from Turkey in 1989, and then received $600,000 annually from 1990 to 1994. Mr. Perle installed his protégé, Mr. Douglas Feith, as the head of IAI. Mr. Feith is presently Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.

Mr. Perle's use of his position to secure a contract with Global Crossing with a retainer fee of $125,000 and a contingent fee of $600,000 based on results is disreputable and should come as no surprise.

I congratulate Mr. Seymour M. Hersh for his recent investigative article in The New Yorker magazine regarding Mr. Perle and a venture capital firm, Trirene Partners, of which Mr. Perle is a managing partner. Mr. Hersh demonstrated Mr. Perle's mixing of business with his official position as chairman of the Defense Policy Board.

Details of Richard Perle's conflict of interest regarding Turkey are available on AHI's website. The issue was raised in a September 4, 2002 joint letter to President Bush (available at https://www.ahiworld.org/090402.html) and in letters to the Department of Defense's Inspector General Joseph E. Schmitz and General Counsel William J. Haynes (available at https://www.ahiworld.org/091702.html). For general information on AHI, please visit our website at https://www.ahiworld.org or call (202) 785-8430.