The White House declined to comment today on a report that Sen. Richard Stone (D.Fla.) has asked National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski to transfer several government officials the Senator thinks are hostile to Israel. According to the report, published in the Washington Post. Stone made that request at a meeting with Brzezinski during the early weeks of the Carter Administration.
A White House spokesman said that Brzezinski “found his meeting with Stone interesting and found the Senator’s views helpful” but that he had no intention of becoming involved in the personnel matters of government departments. Stone himself refused to comment on the subject of his talk with Brzezinski. “I think it would be very wrong to discuss any aspect of my conversation with Brzezinski.” he told reporters.
According to the Post report, the Senator gave Brzezinski what one source called a “hit list” of personnel who should be shifted. Most of them, the Post said, work at the Pentagon and analyze Israel’s weapons requests. Stone, who is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and chairman of its subcommittee on Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, reportedly contended that these analysts hold what he considers mistaken attitudes toward Israel’s weapons needs.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
