Rand H. Fishbein, Ph.D.President - Fishbein Assoc. public policy firm
Preferred Topics:
- Terrorism
- A Palestinian State
- U.S. Defense Policy and the Middle East
- Arms Sales To the Middle East
- The failure of Oslo
- Congress and American Middle East Policy
Rand Fishbein is President of Fishbein Associates, Inc., a public-policy consulting firm based in Potomac, Maryland. His company advises government and industry clients on a wide range of national security and foreign policy matters.
Dr. Fishbein is a former Professional Staff Member of the Senate Defense Appropriations subcommittee, where he was responsible for budgeting over $35 billion annually in U.S. defense expenditure. His responsibilities included budgeting annual appropriations for the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Special Operations Forces. In addition, he budgeted all ammuntion procurement for the Department of Defense (DoD) and oversaw the funding of all DoD environmental programs.
Dr. Fishbein conceived of and authored the Armament Retooling and Manufacturing Support (ARMS) Initiative, a program designed to encourage the commercial utilization of active and inactive military installations as a way of offsetting their overhead costs. He also conceived of and authored the Legacy Resource Management Program, the largest and most successful natural and cultural resource conservation program in the DoD. It covers 25 million square miles of DoD land and is active in all 50 states and U.S. territories.
Dr. Fishbein also was charged by Chairman Daniel Inouye with conceiving of, and developing, numerous programs to strengthen the U.S.-Israel security relationship. These included: initiating joint U.S. Israel helicopter training, the participation of Israeli industry in the repair and maintenance of European-based fighter aircraft, and the dredging of Haifa harbor to better accommodate U.S. 6th fleet operations.
Dr. Fishbein was among the first to recognize the threat posed to the West by Saddam Hussein's arms build-up and call for a forceful U.S. response. He initiated a cut-off of Export-Import Bank assistance to Iraq in 1989. Eight months before Iraq invaded Kuwait, he conceived of and authored the Iraq Sanctions Act, which called for the end of all U.S. commercial and financial ties with Saddam's regime.
Rand also served as a Professional Staff Member of the Foreign Operations Appropriations subcommittee. In that capacity, he was responsible for drafting the annual U.S. foreign aid bill and for conceiving of, and developing numerous programs to further U.S.-Israel cooperation in science and technology. He helped to develop the $10 billion loan guarantee package to aid Israel's immigrant absorption. It was Dr. Fishbein's idea to form the U.S.-Israel Science and Technology Commission as well as a U.S. Government program between Washington and its allies that has worked successfully over the last ten years to develop sophisticated new strategies and technologies to counter the threat of terrorism.
Since the signing of the Oslo Accords, Dr. Fishbein has been active in efforts to monitor Palestinian compliance and demand the prosecution of those Palestinians responsible for the murder of Americans. It was principally through his efforts in 1993 that Congress was persuaded not to grant the Administration's request for a wholesale repeal of U.S. laws that targeted the PLO as a terrorist organization. It was his idea that the State Department should report every 90 days on the level of PLO compliance with the terms of Oslo before any additional U.S. funds were released.
Later, after leaving Capitol Hill, Dr. Fishbein authored the Middle East Peace Compliance Act, the first legislative attempt to cut off funds to the PLO for their failure to comply with its commitments under Oslo. The legislation, sponsored by Alfonse D'Amato in the Senate and Michael Forbes in the House, also called for the PLO to be held accountable for the murder and injury of American citizens.
Dr. Fishbein has had a long and varied career in U.S. Middle East policy. He was one of only two Foreign Policy / Intelligence analysts on the Senate Iran-Contra investigating committee and was a principal author of its final report. He earned his Ph.D., with distinction, in International Relations/Middle East Studies from The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. Dr. Fishbein has been a fellow at the North Atlantic Assembly, the inter-parliamentary forum of NATO, and has been awarded a Fulbright fellowship to St. Antony's College at Oxford University and another Fulbright fellowship to the School of Oriental and African Studies, at the University of London.
Dr. Fishbein serves on the boards of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA)and the Center for Security Policy.
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Dr. Fishbein is a former Professional Staff Member of the Senate Defense Appropriations subcommittee, where he was responsible for budgeting over $35 billion annually in U.S. defense expenditure. His responsibilities included budgeting annual appropriations for the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Special Operations Forces. In addition, he budgeted all ammuntion procurement for the Department of Defense (DoD) and oversaw the funding of all DoD environmental programs.
Dr. Fishbein conceived of and authored the Armament Retooling and Manufacturing Support (ARMS) Initiative, a program designed to encourage the commercial utilization of active and inactive military installations as a way of offsetting their overhead costs. He also conceived of and authored the Legacy Resource Management Program, the largest and most successful natural and cultural resource conservation program in the DoD. It covers 25 million square miles of DoD land and is active in all 50 states and U.S. territories.
Dr. Fishbein also was charged by Chairman Daniel Inouye with conceiving of, and developing, numerous programs to strengthen the U.S.-Israel security relationship. These included: initiating joint U.S. Israel helicopter training, the participation of Israeli industry in the repair and maintenance of European-based fighter aircraft, and the dredging of Haifa harbor to better accommodate U.S. 6th fleet operations.
Dr. Fishbein was among the first to recognize the threat posed to the West by Saddam Hussein's arms build-up and call for a forceful U.S. response. He initiated a cut-off of Export-Import Bank assistance to Iraq in 1989. Eight months before Iraq invaded Kuwait, he conceived of and authored the Iraq Sanctions Act, which called for the end of all U.S. commercial and financial ties with Saddam's regime.
Rand also served as a Professional Staff Member of the Foreign Operations Appropriations subcommittee. In that capacity, he was responsible for drafting the annual U.S. foreign aid bill and for conceiving of, and developing numerous programs to further U.S.-Israel cooperation in science and technology. He helped to develop the $10 billion loan guarantee package to aid Israel's immigrant absorption. It was Dr. Fishbein's idea to form the U.S.-Israel Science and Technology Commission as well as a U.S. Government program between Washington and its allies that has worked successfully over the last ten years to develop sophisticated new strategies and technologies to counter the threat of terrorism.
Since the signing of the Oslo Accords, Dr. Fishbein has been active in efforts to monitor Palestinian compliance and demand the prosecution of those Palestinians responsible for the murder of Americans. It was principally through his efforts in 1993 that Congress was persuaded not to grant the Administration's request for a wholesale repeal of U.S. laws that targeted the PLO as a terrorist organization. It was his idea that the State Department should report every 90 days on the level of PLO compliance with the terms of Oslo before any additional U.S. funds were released.
Later, after leaving Capitol Hill, Dr. Fishbein authored the Middle East Peace Compliance Act, the first legislative attempt to cut off funds to the PLO for their failure to comply with its commitments under Oslo. The legislation, sponsored by Alfonse D'Amato in the Senate and Michael Forbes in the House, also called for the PLO to be held accountable for the murder and injury of American citizens.
Dr. Fishbein has had a long and varied career in U.S. Middle East policy. He was one of only two Foreign Policy / Intelligence analysts on the Senate Iran-Contra investigating committee and was a principal author of its final report. He earned his Ph.D., with distinction, in International Relations/Middle East Studies from The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. Dr. Fishbein has been a fellow at the North Atlantic Assembly, the inter-parliamentary forum of NATO, and has been awarded a Fulbright fellowship to St. Antony's College at Oxford University and another Fulbright fellowship to the School of Oriental and African Studies, at the University of London.
Dr. Fishbein serves on the boards of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA)and the Center for Security Policy.
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