Today, August 13, 2004, the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia to the United States issued the following press release through its public relations firm:
Press Release
Source: Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Information Office
Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia Responds to New York Sun Article
Friday August 13, 5:36 pm ETWASHINGTON, Aug. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington DC has issued the following statement:
On August 10, 2004, The New York Sun published an article by Daniel Pipes entitled 'The Saudis' Covert P.R. Campaign.' The article speculates that Saudi Arabia pays five Middle East experts to speak on its behalf as part of a program to educate Americans about U.S./Saudi relations. This is absolutely not true.
We hope that The New York Sun prints an immediate apology to former Ambassadors Walter Cutler and Richard Murphy, and to Sandra Mackey, Mary Morris and Samer Shehata, people who are devoted to building a greater understanding among the international community.
Neither the government of Saudi Arabia nor any public relations firm compensates these individuals for their activities. These esteemed experts on Middle East issues speak their own minds and on their own behalf.
This press release is distributed by Qorvis Communications on behalf of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC.
Source: Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Information Office
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040813/dcf035_1.html (accessed Friday, August 13, 2004)
This release was in response to a story that Daniel Pipes wrote this week for the New York Sun.
Let me respond, on the record, since I was one faculty member contacted by the Saudis' P.R. firm, urging that I offer a forum to their speakers.
I am a professor of political science at the University of Chicago and co-director of a speakers program at the University, the Program on International Politics, Economics, and Security.. In connection with this speakers program, I was contacted by several times by Saudi P.R. firms, urging me to take speakers on their behalf. The calls and e-mails came from Sarah Burleson, as associate of the Chicago P.R. firm of Adelstein and Associates, which (she told me) is doing this work in connection with the Saudi's Washington P.R. firm, Qorvis Communications. She made clear that this is part of a broader Saudi initiative to secure placements for friendly speakers at universities and other public forums. The e-mail to me announced this Saudi-sponsored program:
Subject: Speakers' Bureau
From: Sarah Burleson [mailto:sarah@adelsteinassociates.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2004 2:09 PM
To: 'c-lipson@uchicago.edu'Dear Mr. Lipson,
Hello! I left a message for you a moment ago on your voice mail, but wanted to send along a little more information in order to elaborate. I called in regard to the potential opportunity to host a speaker to address U.S.-Saudi relations in coordination with the International Politics, Economics and Security Program of the University of Chicago. I think you will see upon review of the bios below that we have some truly amazing potential speakers.
The firm I represent, Adelstein & Associates, provides external communications for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and one of the primary goals in our 2004 outreach campaign is to provide ongoing education to communities around the country regarding the importance and value of strong U.S.-Saudi relations. It is crucial to reach Americans outside the Washington Beltway, and the Chicago area is a key market for us to address in that effort. One of our campaign components is to implement a speaker's bureau program on behalf of the Kingdom that reaches into target markets across the nation. I think there is a wonderful opportunity to develop a very stimulating event with the International Politics, Economics and Security Program.
We have numerous spokespersons who are committed to listening and engaging in open and honest discussions as part of this effort, and are doing so at their own expense. These individuals can speak on a variety of aspects of the U.S.-Saudi relationship, including Saudi Arabia's role in rebuilding Iraq and the Mid-East peace process, all of which have received extensive media attention. Attached are the biographies of four of the potential speakers with whom we may coordinate for one of your events:
- Ambassador Walter L. Cutler - President of Meridian International Center, a Washington-based non-profit institution dedicated to promoting international understanding through the exchange of people, ideas, and the arts. Ambassador Cutler was previously a diplomat in the U.S. Foreign Service. He served twice as ambassador to Saudi Arabia and as ambassador to Tunisia and Zaire.
- Mary E. Morris - Vice President and Director of Programs for the Los Angeles World Affairs Council
- Ambassador Richard W. Murphy – Member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York as the Hasib J. Sabbagh Senior Fellow for the Middle East
- Sandra Mackey – Free lance writer specializing in the Middle East.
- Dr. Samer Shehata - Assistant professor of Politics at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University
If you should need any other information, please do not hesitate to contact me at 312-787-3322 or via email: mailto:molly@adelsteinassociates.com. I look forward to discussing this opportunity with you in greater detail at a later date, and I am available to come speak with you in person if possible.
Thank you very much for your consideration, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
Sarah Burleson
Associate
Adelstein & Associates
222 W. Ontario Suite 503
Chicago, IL 60610
After this e-mail, I spoke with Ms. Burleson, asking for details about the program. She was friendly, competent, and professional. She explicitly referred to all five speakers as "allies" of Saudi Arabia. Second, she discussed financial arrangements. I explained that our speakers' program normally paid for all our speakers' travel expenses and gave them a modest honorarium. I added that our normal academic honorarium of $250 might be too small for some of these high-ranking former U.S. officials.
At that point, she informed me that the P.R. firms would be paying all expenses, including travel and any associated honoraria, and that my speakers program would not have to pay anything at all. I did not explicitly ask whether these speakers received any fees directly or indirectly from the Saudi government, Saudi businesses, or Saudi philanthropies for this work, and she did not say.
The Saudi press release also states that "Neither the government of Saudi Arabia nor any public relations firm compensates these individuals for their activities." It does not say whether other Saudi-related entities make payments or say whether these individuals have other financial dealings with the Kingdom.
Taking the Saudi government press release at face value, these speakers are actually turning down a normal academic honoraria in order to speak for free on behalf of the Saudi P.R. firm. Apparently, these senior figures spend days flying around the country, speaking on behalf of a major Saudi P.R. initiative, while turning down compensation from the venues that host them, from the Saudis themselves, and from the Saudi P.R. firms.
One obvious question is whether they are compensated by any other Saudi-based or Saudi-funded institutions "for these activities." The press release mentions only the government and the P.R. firms. Another question is whether these speakers have other financial ties to the Saudi government, Saudi businesses, or Saudi-funded philanthropies that pay them for other activities closely tied to their seemingly unpaid speeches, such as "consulting."
That is, these "free" speeches might be compensated indirectly through payments for other Saudi-related activities. I am not stating that these speakers are receiving such payments. I simply do not know. I am raising questions since it would appear that the speakers are actually turning down normal honoraria in order to speak for free and since the Saudi press release does not clarify these matters.
Charles Lipson
Professor, Political Science
Director, PIPES: the Program on International Politics, Economics, and Security
University of Chicago
http://www.charleslipson.com/
clipson@midway.uchicago.edu
