---
born: 1936-01-01
category: Nuclear Scientists & Programs
died: 2024-11-16
location: Collingswood, New Jersey
summary: Allen personally relayed the message to Ariel Sharon in the fall of 1981
  that the United States would no longer permit Israel to get KH-11 imagery of the
  Soviet Union or any other country outside the hundred-mile limit, re-enforcing the
  initial 1979 restrictions.
tags:
- Person
- Nuclear
- Israel
---

Richard V. Allen was the National Security Advisor to President [Ronald Reagan](/people/ronald-reagan/). He was informed of the Israeli bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor at [Osirak bombing](/events/osirak-bombing/) in June 1981. Allen immediately telephoned Reagan, who privately expressed delight at the attack. Allen was present at a meeting of Reagan's high command where [Caspar Weinberger](/people/caspar-weinberger/) proposed canceling F-16 aircraft sales to [Israel](/places/israel/), but Reagan had no intention of taking such a step.[^1]

Allen personally relayed the message to [Ariel Sharon](/people/ariel-sharon/) in the fall of 1981 that the [United States](/places/united-states/) would no longer permit [Israel](/places/israel/) to get [KH-11](/concepts/kh-11/) imagery of the [Soviet Union](/places/soviet-union/) or any other country outside the hundred-mile limit, re-enforcing the initial 1979 restrictions. Allen was not intimidated by Sharon's bellowing about American aid being "Band-Aids and mustard plaster."[^1]

[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 1, 21.