Richard V. Allen

Richard V. Allen was the National Security Advisor to President Ronald Reagan. He was informed of the Israeli bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor at 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 proposed canceling F-16 aircraft sales to Israel, but Reagan had no intention of taking such a step.¹

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. Allen was not intimidated by Sharon's bellowing about American aid being "Band-Aids and mustard plaster."¹

October 1980

Richard Allen was a figure with connections to the Carter administration. He was part of the American delegation at the Washington meeting in October 1980, which included Robert McFarlane and Lawrence Silberman. Allen had a deal with the Reagan camp that assured him the position of national security adviser for Reagan.²