Richard Allen

Like many of the archconservatives who support the policy positions of the now mostly defunct Project for the New American Century (PNAC), Allen's right-wing credentials date back to the 1970s and 1980s, when he was a member of the original Committee on the Present Danger and served in the Reagan and Nixon administrations.

Allen served as President Ronald Reagan's first national security adviser—one of a number of posts in a long government career. Using his extensive familiarity with Reagan policy as a guide (it was while conversing with Allen that then-Gov. Reagan enunciated his Cold War theory of “We win, they lose”), in December 2006 Allen penned an article for conservative publication Human Events in which he attempted to answer the question, “What would Reagan do?” Regarding the Iraq War, Allen speculates that Reagan would have done a better job than George W. Bush: “At the time of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, I was not so certain that Reagan would have chosen to invade Iraq, even based on the intelligence at hand. It is my conclusion that Reagan would have begun an unmerciful and determined squeeze on Saddam, mustered allied support in that effort, and continued to squeeze until internal events in Iraq were arranged in such a fashion as to rid the country of his evil presence ... A major difference between Reagan and Bush is that Reagan would have actively explained and 'sold' the rationale for his actions, and in this respect, the Bush administration is sorely lacking. Reagan knew that a leader must explain carefully and persuasively so that the public will throw its support behind even the most difficult policies” (Human Events, December 4, 2006).

Allen was the founding chairman of the Heritage Foundation's Asian Studies Center in 1983 and continues to serve on the center's advisory board. He was a member of a Council on Foreign Relations independent task force on Korea that released the 1998 report “Managing Change on the Korean Peninsula;” Paul Wolfowitz was one of many other members.

After the death of Jean Kirkpatrick, Allen wrote an obituary for the New York Times in which he recounted how she, who called herself an “AFL-CIO Democrat,” eventually became Reagan's nominee for UN ambassador. Allen, who introduced Kirkpatrick to Reagan, also recounted: “ One important bridge between Ronald Reagan and Democrats like Ms. Kirkpatrick was an organization called the Committee on the Present Danger, of which she and I were among the founders in late 1976” (New York Times, December 16, 2006).

Along with his political activities, Allen has had a long career working as a financial consultant, founding the consulting firm Potomac International in the 1970s. This work, however, landed him in the middle of several scandals. According to the Washington Post, “It was around [1972] that Allen was paid $10,000 per month for about six months to do consulting work for Howard Cerny, a lawyer for fugitive financier Robert Vesco. Allen, however, was never accused of any involvement in Vesco's alleged swindling. In 1976, Allen was accused in a Senate hearing of soliciting a $1 million campaign contribution for the Nixon reelection fund from Grumman International, a defense contracting firm, in return for pressure on Japan to buy a Grumman plane. Allen denied the charge by a former Grumman official, and it has never been proved [sic] ... On Oct. 30, 1980, Allen resigned from the Reagan campaign because of conflict-of-interest charges reported in the Wall Street Journal. The Journal article said Allen conducted private business negotiations with Japanese companies during his time at the White House in the early '70s; the article also said that Allen, as a result of his actitivties [sic], claimed the right to benefit from a $120,000 per year account that an associate obtained from Datsun, the Japanese automaker” (Washington Post, June 28, 1981). (The same Post article interviewed Allen's children: “So, is there one quality—one word—they can say that their father instilled in them? 'Win,' says Kas. 'Rule,' says Kristin. 'Conquer,' says Karen.”)

Allen's dealings also got him into trouble when he served in the Reagan administration. Writes Phillip Burch: “Allen had an embarrassing problem which surfaced in the latter part of 1981. It originated the day after President Reagan's inauguration, when Allen came into possession of a $1,000 gratuity paid in cash from a Japanese magazine, intended for Nancy Reagan in exchange for an interview she had given, which money he placed in a White House safe and then reportedly forgot. Also, it was belatedly discovered that around the same time, Allen had accepted three expensive watches as personal gifts from Japanese friends who were high-level governmental consultants. As a result of these disclosures, Allen was forced to leave his NSC post in early 1982” (Phillip Burch, Reagan, Bush, and Right-Wing Politics).

Allen is a senior counselor to consulting firm APCO Worldwide and in May 2003 became a member of its “Iraq Reconstruction Task Force,” which the firm created to “help existing and potential clients navigate the complicated bureaucratic terrain of contracts and subcontracts from the United States government to rebuild Iraq” (Council of Public Relations Firms, May 20, 2003). Allen is also a member of the Council for National Policy, the secretive religious right-wing association that includes as members Edwin Feulner Jr., Ed Meese, and Gary Bauer, among many others.

Government Service

Private Sector

Education

Richard V. Allen, “Reaganaut Realism Should Guide Foreign Policy,” Human Events, December 4, 2006.

Richard Allen, “Jeane Kirkpatrick and the Great Democratic Defection,” New York Times, December 16, 2006, p. A17.

APCO Worldwide: Richard V. Allen, http://www.apcoworldwide.com/content/locations/keystaffbio.cfm?ksid=111&cid=1&ofid=5.

Council of Public Relations Firms, Who We Are: Industry Announcements, May 20, 2003, http://www.prfirms.org/news/spotlight/apco_reconstruction.asp.

“Allen, Richard V., BA, MA.” International Year Book and Statesmen's Who's Who 2004, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts. p. 1161.

Elisabeth Bumiller, “The Powers and Puzzles of Richard Allen; The Disappearing 'Disappearing Act' of the National Security Adviser,” Washington Post, June 28, 1981.

Jerry Sanders, Peddlers of Crisis: The Committee on the Present Danger and the Politics of Containment (Boston: South End Press, 1983).

Hoover Institution, Bio: Richard V. Allen, http://www.hoover.org/bios/allen.

Project for the New American Century, “Statement on the Defense of Taiwan,” August 20, 1999, http://www.newamericancentury.org/Taiwandefensestatement.htm.

U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea http://www.hrnk.org/about-board.html.

American Committee for Peace in the Caucasus, Freedom House, http://www.peaceinthecaucasus.org/about.htm.

Albin Krebs and Robert McG. Thomas, “Notes on People; Another Job for Richard Allen,” New York Times, January 23, 1982.

Philip Burch, Reagan, Bush, and Right-Wing Politics: Elites, Think Tanks, Power, and Policy: Part A: The American Right Wing Takes Command: Key Executive Appointments (Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1997), p.19.

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