Herbert London

From the HJS profile:

Dr. Herbert London is the President of the Hudson Institute, a world renowned think tank in Washington D.C. As one of America's leading social and political commentators he has written for nearly every major newspaper and journal in the U.S, including the New York Times and Washington Post. Dr London has also been a guest lecturer on several major radio and television news programmes both at colleges and universities, and has also appeared as co-host on the popular CNN programme, "Crossfire." He is the former chairman of the National Association of Scholars and a contributing editor for the St. Croix Review and the American Arts Quarterly. He is a Professor Emeritus of New York University and is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Institute of Strategic Studies as well as holding many other prominent roles.
Dr London was the Republican Candidate for the Mayor of New York in 1989. In 1990 he was the Conservative Party Candidate for Governor of New York gaining more votes than any third party candidate in the state's history. In 1994 he was the Republican Party candidate for New York State Comptroller only losing by a narrow margin in a close election.

Views

London has been an opponent of a negotiated agreement with Iran regarding Iran's development of nuclear technology:

For the Iranians, negotiation is cover for the pursuit of its goals... In the end, if U.S. action is neutralized by its own intelligence estimates and the much ballyhooed sanctions do not work in forestalling Iranian development of the bomb, there is little to do but pray. The question at that point is whether one prays to God or Allah.

In an article for the American spectator in 2006 London advocated the merging of law enforcement and intelligence operatives, 'preemption' in preventing terrorist attacks, and racial profiling:

The wall of separation erected between law enforcement and national security agents must be shattered. Human intelligence assets -- emasculated by the Church Commission -- should be restored. Spying is a nasty, but necessary, business in a world as dangerous as ours.

Similarly, preemption is a critical feature of prevention. We must use every legal, i.e. constitutional, means at our disposal to undermine terrorist cells. We should encourage the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Ser-vice) to deport non-citizens who foster violent activity. It is noteworthy that more than 80 percent of mosques preach anti-American dogma and some actively promote terrorism, according to Steve Emerson's recent studies.

And last, despite a reluctance to consider profiling -- understandable since racial and ethnic differentiation is appropriately frowned upon -- it should be noted that 80 year old grandmothers from Des Moines haven't been identified as terrorist "sleepers." Yet remarkably they are often treated in the same fashion at airports as those carrying Saudi Arabian passports.

In an article on the question of patriotism London remarked that:

Ending slavery or emancipating women... were morally justified and fulfilled through a reliance on the Enlightenment and Christian principles of human equality. These developments were not brought about by slaves or women, but by white Protestant men.

he went on to comment that:

The erosion of belief which afflicts the U.S. to some degree, Europe to a great degree and Israel as well, stands in stark contrast to Muslims who have a devotion to their faith and a geopolitical belief in its ultimate dominance.

In a December 2005 article London extolled the role of the United States in the world:

With the new year soon upon us, I have only one resolution: a reasserted devotion to the land I love and a commitment to fight without restraint for its continued glory. This place is, indeed, the last best hope for man-kind, and those who don't realize it are merely blinded by ideological rage.

Affiliations

• Hudson Institute
• Henry Jackson Society - International Patron
• Center for Security Policy - Contributor to CSP front group Family Security Matters
• MEMRI - Board of Advisors
• Friends of the Israel Defense Forces - former National Board Member