43 Facts About Richard Perle

Richard Norman Perle was born on September 16,1941 and is an American political advisor who served as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs under President Ronald Reagan.

Richard Perle began his political career as a senior staff member to Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson on the Senate Armed Services Committee in the 1970s.

Richard Perle served on the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee from 1987 to 2004 where he served as chairman from 2001 to 2003 under the Bush Administration before resigning due to conflict of interests.

Richard Perle has been described as a neoconservative hawk on foreign policy issues.

Richard Perle has been involved with several think-tanks, including the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the Center for Security Policy, the American Enterprise Institute, Project for the New American Century, and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.

Richard Perle was born in New York City, New York, the son of Jewish parents, Martha Gloria and Jack Harold Richard Perle.

From 1969 to 1980, Perle worked as a staffer for Democratic Senator Henry M Jackson of Washington whom he met through Albert Wohlstetter.

Richard Perle was considered an extremely knowledgeable and influential person in the Senate debates on arms control.

At some point Richard Perle acquired the nickname "The Prince of Darkness", which has been used both as a slur by his critics and as a joke by supporters.

Richard Perle was considered a hardliner in arms reduction negotiations with the Soviet Union and has stated that his opposition to arms control under the Carter administration had to do with his view that the US was giving up too much at the negotiation table and not receiving nearly enough concessions from the Soviets.

Richard Perle called the arms talks under negotiation in the late 1970s "the rawest deal of the century".

Richard Perle is widely credited for spearheading opposition to the treaty, which was never ratified by the Senate.

Richard Perle was influential in creating several organizations and think-tanks in order to pressure public opinion and sway policy makers on ballistic missile defense.

In 2010, Richard Perle voiced opposition to the Obama administration's New START Treaty, comparing it unfavorably to the "watershed" 1987 INF Treaty signed by Ronald Reagan.

Richard Perle has been aided by other prominent neoconservatives, including Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith.

In 1998 Richard Perle led an effort known as the Project for the New American Century with close neoconservative allies Wolfowitz, Woolsey, Elliott Abrams, and John Bolton.

Richard Perle was involved in efforts to develop alternative intelligence estimates to help justify the decision to go to war in Iraq.

Nonetheless, Richard Perle helped manage and hire neoconservative affiliated staff for both these organizations that created their own policies and intelligence reports by dodging existing government entities.

Richard Perle allegedly told the British House of Commons that the US would attack Iraq even if UN weapons inspectors didn't find anything.

Richard Perle argued that what he referred to as terrorist Abu Nidal's "sanctuary" in Saddam Hussein's Iraq was justification for the US military invasion of Iraq.

Richard Perle preferred a strategy similar to that used in the Afghan war, in which the US would insert SOF, along with some two divisions, to assist native Kurdish and Shi'ite rebels, much as the United States had done with the Northern Alliance against the Taliban.

Richard Perle expressed regret of his support of the invasion and faulted the "dysfunction" in the Bush administration for the troubled occupation.

Furthermore, shortly after the invasion of Iraq, Richard Perle stated that; "in this case international law stood in the way of doing the right thing".

Richard Perle argued that there was "no practical mechanism consistent with the rules of the UN for dealing with Saddam Hussein".

For example, Richard Perle has expressed support for a theoretical first strike on North Korean and Iranian nuclear facilities.

Richard Perle has on occasion been accused of being an Israeli agent of influence.

Richard Perle came under fire in 1983 when newspapers reported he received substantial payments to represent the interests of an Israeli weapons company.

Richard Perle denied conflict of interest, insisting that, although he received payment for these services after he had assumed his position in the Defense Department, he was between government jobs when he worked for the Israeli firm.

From 1981 to 1987, Richard Perle was Assistant Secretary of Defense for international security policy in the Reagan administration.

Richard Perle acknowledged receiving the payment the same month he joined the Reagan administration, but said the payment was for work done before joining the government and that he had informed the Army of this prior consulting work.

Richard Perle was never indicted for anything related to the incident.

In March 2004, another New York Times article reported that, while chairman of the Defense Policy Board, Richard Perle had contracted with the troubled telecommunications giant Global Crossing to help overcome opposition from the FBI and the Pentagon to the sale of its assets to Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa.

Richard Perle was to be paid $125,000 to promote the deal, with an extra $600,000 contingent fee on its approval.

Richard Perle is known to have demanded payment for press interviews while he was the chairman of the Defense Policy Board, a practice that has raised accusations of not only ethical but legal impropriety.

In 1978, while working with the Senate Armed Services Committee, Richard Perle was caught in a security breach, by CIA director Stansfield Turner.

Richard Perle has served as a Director of Hollinger International since June 1994.

Richard Perle is Co-Chairman of Hollinger Digital Inc and a Director of Jerusalem Post, both of which are subsidiaries of the company.

Richard Perle received over $3 million in bonuses on top of his salary, bringing the total to $5.4 million, and the investigating committee called for him to return the money.

The article alleged that Richard Perle had business dealings with Saudi investors and linked him to the intelligence-related computer firm Trireme Partners LLP, which he claimed stood to profit from the war in Iraq.

That same day, Richard Perle was being interviewed on the issue of Iraq by CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

Richard Perle dismissed the premise of the article and argued that it lacked "any consistent theme".

Richard Perle claimed it was easier to win libel cases in England, and that therefore made it a better location.

In July 2008, The Wall Street Journal reported that Richard Perle had made plans to invest in oil interests in Iraq, in collaboration with Iraqi Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq.