Kenneth Lee Adelman (born June 9, 1946) is an American diplomat, political writer, policy analyst and

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

scholar. Adelman has been a member of the board of directors of the global data collection company RIWI Corp. since June 2016.

Early career

Adelman was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family and graduated from

Grinnell College Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College. Grinnell has the fifth highest endowment-to-stu ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

, majoring in philosophy and

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

. He received his master's degree in Foreign Service studies and Doctorate in political theory from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

. Adelman began working for the government in 1969 at the

U.S. Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for busin ...

, and then served in the

Office of Economic Opportunity The Office of Economic Opportunity was the agency responsible for administering most of the War on Poverty programs created as part of United States President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society legislative agenda. It was established in 1964 as an ...

. From 1975 to 1977 during the Gerald Ford administration, Adelman was an Assistant to

United States Secretary of Defense The United States secretary of defense (SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is a high ranking member of the federal cabinet. DoDD 5100.1: Enclosure 2: a The ...

, Donald Rumsfeld, and was later a member of the Defense Policy Board. He has also served as a national editor of '' Washingtonian'' magazine for more than 17 years. Ken Adelman

He was the deputy U.S. Ambassador to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

for two-and-a-half years, working with

Jeane Kirkpatrick Jeane Duane Kirkpatrick (née Jordan; November 19, 1926December 7, 2006) was an American diplomat and political scientist who played a major role in the foreign policy of the Ronald Reagan administration. An ardent anticommunist, she was a lo ...

. He also served as the Director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency for nearly five years, during the Reagan administration. He was an advisor to President Ronald Reagan during the superpower summits between Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. He took part in the Zaire River Expedition in 1975, travelling down the

Congo River The Congo River ( kg, Nzâdi Kôngo, french: Fleuve Congo, pt, Rio Congo), formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the second largest river in the world by discharge ...

on the 100th Anniversary of Henry Morton Stanley's exploration. In 1981, he was selected to be one of the first ''Young Leaders'' of the

French-American Foundation The French-American Foundation is a privately funded, non-governmental organization established to promote bilateral relations between France and the United States on topics of importance to the two countries, with a focus on contact between upco ...

Later career

Adelman was a member of the Pentagon's

Defense Policy Board The Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, also referred to as the Defense Policy Board (DPBAC or DPB), is a federal advisory committee to the United States Department of Defense. Their charter is available online through the office of the Dir ...

well-known for his involvement in

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

policy efforts dating back to the 1970s when he was a member of the

Committee on the Present Danger The Committee on the Present Danger (CPD) is the name used by a succession of United States, American neoconservative and Anti-communism, anti-communist foreign policy interest groups. Throughout its four iterations—in the 1950s, the 1970s, the ...

. He strongly supported the

war on Iraq {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

and worked for the

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

Project for the New American Century The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) was a neoconservativeneocon activist", worried in 2006 that the incompetence shown in handling the war in Iraq would damage the neoconservative movement; neoconservatism, he said, "is not going to sell" for at least a generation. Adelman went on to become senior counsel at Edelman Public Relations, where he led several campaigns linked to U.S. trade and intellectual property interests via the organization USA Innovations, an organization he also leads. Using the USA Innovations platform and through other published articles Adelman has attacked the

Thai government The Government of Thailand, or formally the Royal Thai Government ( Abrv: RTG; th, รัฐบาลไทย, , ), is the unitary government of the Kingdom of Thailand. The country emerged as a modern nation state after the foundation of t ...

for violating U.S. pharmaceutical industry

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

drug intellectual property patents and other topics linked to Edelman Public Relations clients. Adelman is also an expert on

and has taught extension school classes at

and

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress, GWU is the largest Higher educat ...

on Shakespeare. He co-wrote with

Norman R. Augustine Norman (Norm) Ralph Augustine (born July 27, 1935) is a U.S. aerospace businessman who served as United States Under Secretary of the Army from 1975 to 1977. Augustine served as chairman and CEO of the Lockheed Martin Corporation. He was chair ...

a book on drawing leadership lessons from Shakespeare, called ''Shakespeare in Charge: The Bard's Guide to Leading and Succeeding on the Business Stage''. He is known for invocations of Shakespeare in favor of his political positions, including an NPR analysis of a scene from '' Othello'' i
support of the invasion of Iraq
and laudin
President Bush as King Henry V

Iraq war

Adelman wrote a pair of editorial columns regarding the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...

in the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

'' in February 2002 and April 2003 entitled, respectively, "Cakewalk In Iraq" and "'Cakewalk' Revisited". In the first he argued that the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq would be a simple matter to accomplish: "I believe that demolishing

Hussein Hussein, Hussain, Hossein, Hossain, Huseyn, Husayn, Husein or Husain (; ar, حُسَيْن ), coming from the triconsonantal root Ḥ-S-i-N ( ar, ح س ی ن, link=no), is an Arabic name which is the diminutive of Hassan, meaning "good", " ...

's military power and liberating Iraq would be a cakewalk". In the later editorial, published just a few weeks after the invasion, he claimed his vindication and in particular praised key Bush administration players: "My confidence 14 months ago sprang from having worked for Don Rumsfeld three times—knowing he would fashion a most creative and detailed war plan—and from knowing Dick Cheney and

Paul Wolfowitz Paul Dundes Wolfowitz (born December 22, 1943) is an American political scientist and diplomat who served as the 10th President of the World Bank, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, and former dean of Johns Hopkins ...

well for many years". Also notable are Adelman's predictions regarding

weapons of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to numerous individuals or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natu ...

in Iraq. Adelman said that weapons were likely to be near

Tikrit Tikrit ( ar, تِكْرِيت ''Tikrīt'' , Syriac: ܬܲܓܪܝܼܬܼ ''Tagrīṯ'') is a city in Iraq, located northwest of Baghdad and southeast of Mosul on the Tigris River. It is the administrative center of the Saladin Governorate. , it h ...

and

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

, "because they're the most protected places with the best troops. I have no doubt we're going to find big stores of weapons of mass destruction". In an article first appearing on the website of '' Vanity Fair'' in November 2006, Adelman wrote that he regrets urging military action in Iraq and feels that he overestimated the abilities of the Bush administration leadership. He was quoted as saying "I just presumed that what I considered to be the most competent National Security team since Truman was indeed going to be competent". He also added, "They turned out to be among the most incompetent teams in the

postwar era In Western world, Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A po ...

. Not only did each of them, individually, have enormous flaws, but together they were deadly, dysfunctional". He wrote that the conduct of the war "just breaks your heart," and it "didn't have to be managed this bad; it's awful." In an article in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', Adelman said of Rumsfeld, a friend and associate of 36 years: "How could this happen to someone so good, so competent? This war made me doubt the past. Was I wrong all those years, or was he just better back then? The Donald Rumsfeld of today is not the Donald Rumsfeld I knew, but maybe I was wrong about the old Donald Rumsfeld. It's a terrible way to end a career. It's hard to remember, but he was once the future."

Support for Barack Obama

'' reported on October 20, 2008, that Kenneth Adelman decided to buck his conservative leanings and vote for Senator

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

for President on November 4, 2008. According to the ''New Yorker'', Adelman made his decision "primarily for two reasons, those of temperament and of judgment". He explained: Soon after he authored a '' Huffington Post'' article entitled ''Why a Staunch Conservative Like Me Endorsed Obama'' where he wrote, "Granted, McCain's views are closer to mine than Obama's. But I've learned over this Bush era to value competence along with ideology. Otherwise, our ideology gets discredited, as it has so disastrously over the past eight years". He added, "McCain's temperament—leading him to bizarre behavior during the week the economic crisis broke—and his judgment—leading him to

Wasilla Wasilla ( Dena'ina: ''Benteh'') is a city in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, United States and the fourth-largest city in Alaska. It is located on the northern point of Cook Inlet in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley of the southcentral part of the ...

—depressed me into thinking that "our guy" would be a(nother) lousy conservative president. Been there, done that". A ''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

'' article quotes Adelman as saying, "I am a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

and only voted for one Democrat in my entire life, and that was very much an anti-McCain vote. I thought Obama was going to be better than he turned out to be". Reuters also reported that he was backing Romney.

Support for Joe Biden

In 2020, Adelman, along with over 130 other former Republican national security officials, signed a statement that asserted that President Trump was unfit to serve another term, and "To that end, we are firmly convinced that it is in the best interest of our nation that Vice President Joe Biden be elected as the next President of the United States, and we will vote for him."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adelman, Kenneth Lee Living people 1946 births American political writers American male non-fiction writers Cold War diplomats American diplomats Jewish American writers Reagan administration personnel United States presidential advisors Grinnell College alumni Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni Shakespearean scholars Iowa Republicans Place of birth missing (living people) Young Leaders of the French-American Foundation Recess appointments