William Luti

William J. Luti, was the deputy undersecretary of defense and a staunch supporter of the invasion of Iraq. Luti worked for the Office of Special Plans (OSP), a secretive Pentagon outfit whose players included Douglas Feith and Abram Shulsky, which was held responsible by the Pentagon Inspector General for the defective intelligence on Iraq.

The Washington Post followed up on the Luti story in late October, running a full-page profile of the deputy undersecretary. According to the Post, one of Luti's early heroes was Albert Wohlstetter, the Strangelovian nuclear war strategist who influenced a number of key neocon figures. Reported the Post, "In the early 1990s, while deputy director of the chief of naval operations' executive panel, a civilian advisory group, Luti became interested in the views of one member, strategy guru Albert Wohlstetter. A mentor to Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz, Defense Policy Board member Richard N. Perle and several other prominent conservative defense thinkers, Wohlstetter became Luti's entree into their world. From there, while still in the Navy, Luti became a congressional fellow in the office of then-Speaker Gingrich. His time there, in part spent working on legislation related to arming and training Bosnian Muslims, again brought him into contact with interventionist conservatives."

Affiliations

• Vice President's Office - Special Adviser for National Security Affairs
• Office of Special Plans
• Center for Security Policy

Related Articles

• Seymour Hersh, "Selective Intelligence," The New Yorker, May 5, 2003
• Thomas Ricks, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61603-2003Oct21.html

"Iraq War Planner Downplays Role,"] Washington Post, October 22, 2003