Loren B. Thompson

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Dr. Loren B. Thompson is Chief Operating Officer of the Lexington Institute. "Thompson's main job at Lexington is to oversee security studies, the institute's largest project.

"Dr. Thompson is a long-time advisor to high-tech companies, the federal government, and foundations. He conducts most of his for-profit activities through Source Associates, a consulting firm that he heads in Northern Virginia. The areas on which he advises Source clients range from nonlethal weapons to industrial policy to military strategy.

"For twenty years, Dr. Thompson has taught graduate-level courses at Georgetown University in military strategy, new technology, and the media (he currently teaches 'Emerging Technologies and Security'). During the 1980s, he was Deputy Director of Georgetown's Security Studies Program, part of the university's School of Foreign Service. He has also taught classes at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

"Dr. Thompson is widely quoted on military affairs in the national media, having been interviewed by every major newspaper and broadcast network. His commentaries have appeared in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. He has also been interviewed by overseas media such as The Economist, the Financial Times, and Al Jazeera.

"Dr. Thompson holds a Ph.D. in government from Georgetown University. He was born in 1951 and currently resides in McLean, Virginia and Plymouth, Massachusetts."

August 2006; Equivocator of American Inhumanity

Early in August, 2006, Thompson was quoted twice in news sources within one week, attempting to downplay the recent news of American Servicepersons' crimes against Iraqi citizens:

'You could probably construct an empiri-cal case that US forces are exhibiting more restraint in their treatment of Iraqi civilians than has ever been seen in past wars of similar scale and duration,' says military analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va, in an e-mail. 'Almost all of the atrocities that have been alleged involve small units deliberately disobeying rules of engagement and the orders of senior officers.'

'It is worth bearing in mind that the US routinely killed thousands of enemy civilians in bombing raids during World War II, and that the number of civilians murdered at My Lai, the worst atrocity committed by US forces in Vietnam, was over 300,' adds Dr. Thompson. 'The pattern of atrocities committed against civilians in past counterinsurgency campaigns is quite imposing, from the British Army in the Boer War to the US Army in the Filipino Insurrection to the Russian Army in Chechnya.'"

Brad Knickerbocker, "US troop scandals: Is Iraq different?: A military tribunal this week is hearing charges that troops killed an Iraqi family in March.", The Christian Science Monitor , August 08, 2006 edition
"'When you look at the circumstances of whom we send and what we expect them to do, it's surprising we don't have more of those cases,' said Loren Thompson, defense analyst at Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va."

Anna Badkhen, "Atrocities are a fact of all wars, even ours: It's not just evil empires whose soldiers go amok", San Francisco Chronicle, Aigist 13, 2006

Former Fellowship with Alexis de Tocqueville Institution

Loren Thompson was a Senior Fellow of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (AdTI) where he was also Executive Director of the national-security program during the 1990's.

During that time Loren Thomson wrote, sometimes together with Jim Courter (a former(?) chairman of the 'Committee for the Common Defense' at AdTI) or Merrick Carey (until early 1998 President of the AdTI and founder of the Lexington Institute), a lot of defense related articles for the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution like:

Other Related SourceWatch Resources

External links

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