The Intelligence Summit is an annual conference run principally by John Loftus and funded by an organization he controls, the Intelligence and Homeland Security Educational Center (IHEC). The stated purpose of these regular meetings is "to provide an opportunity for the international intelligence community to listen to and learn from each other, and to share ideas in the common war against terrorism."
Organization
According to the Intelligence Summit's website, the meetings are run by organizers (Robert Katz and John Loftus) and an Advisory Council, which includes or included in the past "two former heads of CIA, the head of British Joint Intelligence, senior officials of the Mossad, the former Director of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism, the former director of the Indian Counter Intelligence Service, generals of the US Army and Air Force intelligence services, and academic experts". Among the Advisory Council members are the author and consultant Yossef Bodansky, special operations expert Richard Marcinko, and retired generals and Fox News military analysts Paul E. Vallely and Tom McInerney.
Funding
Ron Jacobs notes that the primary sponsor of the conference, Michael Cherney, "is the subject of controversy and is currently denied entry into the United States because of his indictment on various charges in Russia and Israel." Jacobs points out that "Cherney is well-known among supporters of Israel and has contributed millions of dollars to various organizations on the right end of Israel's political spectrum, as well as several thousands to the US Republican Party." St. Petersburg Times confirms that Cherney is the main contributor to the Summit and notes that "the United States has denied Cherney a visa since 1999 because of alleged ties to the Russian mafia." Cherney was listed for organized crime and money laundering on the Interpol Red List of wanted persons. Loftus counters that Cherney "was framed by [former Director of the Office of National Intelligence John] Negroponte."
Controversies
John Loftus has come under fire from former representatives of the International Holocaust Education Center, who are concerned about him using the organization's tax-exempt status improperly to promote his intelligence activities. The St. Petersburg Times noted that "Walter Loebenberg, who founded the Holocaust Education Center and approved of turning the name over to Loftus in 2005 because of his high regard for him, says that he knew Loftus was doing intelligence work at the time. 'But ... we agreed he would change the name if he did his intelligence work under the name of the Holocaust Education Center. It has gone farther than we expected,' said Loebenberg. 'We never would have organized or sponsored an intelligence conference.'" An Internal Revenue Service spokesperson explained the impropriety: "If a tax-exempt charitable organization changes the name, the purpose or the structure, it must let IRS know by corresponding with us. And, it must remain neutral and nonpartisan."
Loftus has also been criticized for listing sponsors of the Summit who never consented to being so listed, including Konica Minolta and Florida Holocaust Museum board member Bruce Epstein.
Objectives
The Intelligence Summit's emphasis is upon terrorism and jihad related issues; former Jamaa Islamia terrorist and author Tawfik Hamid is on the Summit's Advisory Council. Ahmed Bedier of the Council on American-Islamic Relations noted of Hamid's participation in the Summit, "The Intelligence Summit is a group of neoconservatives and private intelligence agencies that are benefiting from the war on terrorism. And opportunists like Hamid and others at this event are bashing and cashing and making money from it." Legal analyst Victoria Toensing said, "This is not a mainstream conference with recognized names in the field. I've been in the intelligence and terrorism world a long time, and I would not suggest going to this conference for intelligence or terrorism information."