By happy coincidence, Tom Fingar, who supervised the National Intelligence Estimate that helped put the kibosh on plans to attack Iran in 2008, is teaching at Oxford this term at the same time that the Oxford Union has invited Ray to debate again in its historic Debate Chamber (on January 24). It dawned on Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence that we might finally be able to present our annual award (for 2012) to Tom Fingar. (Tom had been too busy with teaching and travel commitments last fall to come to Washington from Stanford to receive the award in our traditional setting at American University.
The Oxford Union was keen on the idea of hosting the award presentation and offered to include Julian Assange, Sam Adams award winner in 2010, by video-stream from his sanctuary in the embassy of Ecuador in London. As if more serendipity were needed, we have also learned that arch-neocon John Bolton, a thorn in Fingar’s (and just about everyone else’s) side when Bolton was Under Secretary of State for Arms Control, will give a presentation in the same Debate Chamber on January 22. This is getting really interesting.