Alexis Debat

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Alexis Debat, currently using the name Yves Bergquist (born 1977)

PBS, etc. He also wrote op-eds in the Financial Times and the International Herald Tribune.[5]

However, he resigned from ABC News in June 2007, after some ABC officials raised questions about his credentials.[2] He is currently the director of artificial intelligence and neuroscience in media at the Entertainment Technology Center.[6]

Background

An in-depth inquiry into his work as a consultant cleared his reporting, according to ABC News President David Westin. That investigation found no instances of false reporting, ABC said, but did uncover four details about operations and meetings in Pakistan that could not be confirmed. "None of these discrepancies would rise to the level of a formal, on-air retraction because none of them was material to the substance of our report," Mr. Westin wrote in an internal memo[7][8] ABC has however deleted articles by Alexis Debat, replaced by the notice "This story has been removed from our Web site because of questions raised about the credibility of one of its authors, Alexis Debat."[9]

Kerry Smith, ABC's senior vice president for editorial quality, who headed up the inquiry, described the process as "particularly sensitive" because it involved re-reporting on confidential sources, belonging not just to Mr. Debat but to other, current ABC reporters—reflecting the collective nature of investigative work. At one point, Ms. Smith sent a three-person team, which included an Urdu speaker and producer Rhonda Schwartz, to Pakistan to determine whether Mr. Debat went to the hotels he said he did, and to confirm that he met with the people he said he met with.[10]

In an interview with The New York Observer in 2007, Debat said he felt cautiously pleased for himself and for his former colleagues by the results of the inquiry. "I'm very happy that their collective reputation is salvaged," said Mr. Debat.[10]

In September 2007, the French news media

Nixon Center. Many other personalities also since stated that Politique Internationale published bogus interviews of them. The list included former US President Bill Clinton, US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.[14]

Alexis Debat has denied Rue 89's allegations, and claimed that he was taking steps to charge Rue 89 and Pascal Riché, author of the story, for "slander. The trial is pending."[15] He admitted however having made "a mistake" for Obama's interview.[15] On the other hand, Debat also admitted he did not interview Bill Clinton, Pelosi, Bloomberg, Gates, Greenspan or Annan, but that these "interviews" were piece together from speeches, with the consent of Patrick Wasjman, the director of Politique Internationale.[14] He has also claimed that "a technicality" had prevented the Sorbonne University from issuing his PhD, which he had not been made aware of.[10]

Alexis Debat moved to California and currently uses the name Yves Bergquist.[16]

Controversy over "expert" status

Debat was a respected expert on terrorism issues, writing for example on the

Tabligh organisation, on Iran and many other subjects.[18] Two days before Rue 89 's revelations, Alexis Debat was the source of a Sunday Times article claiming that The Pentagon had a "‘three-day blitz’ plan for Iran".[19] In an article published by National Journal, Laura Rozen has questioned Debat's account of alleged US support to the Jundallah in purported covert operations against Iran.[20] This ABC report by Debat had itself been angrily denied by Pakistan official sources, ABC later reported. ABC precised that "ABC News stands by its reporting on this story."[21] Laura Rozen then explained that according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, partially funded by the US government, Debat had been a paid employee of them, until the controversy lifted by Rue 89.[22] Andrew Krepinevich, head of the conservative think-tank, put the blame on the competitive aspect of medias, recalling : "We had a contract with the Pentagon to do some work...We hired Alexis to support us in that work. His sole arrangement with us was as a consultant.[22]

Debat was paid as a "consultant" by ABC News,[3] although he also wrote for ABC's The Blotter.

Debat presented himself as "former advisor to the

French minister of Defense on Transatlantic Affairs," "visiting lecturer at Middlebury College" and claimed that he was at work on a manuscript on the history of the Central Intelligence Agency.[23]

In an interview on PBS in Autumn 2005, during the

PBS, he claimed that "what started as isolated clashes quickly became a political opportunity for these people to put their situation at the forefront of the political debate to make headlines with their own situations," although he also underlined "a pervasive, very dark racism in French society that associates the second generation Muslims, these second generation immigrants with trouble."[24]

According to his (now deleted) online biography at

RAND think tank, as advisor for the Business for Diplomatic Action consortium, and once again for the French government as "a desk officer for the Ministry of Defense."[25]

According to Jeffrey Schneider from ABC, suspicions were aroused when the

whistleblower inside ABC News had launched an unofficial investigation on Debat in May 2007.[27]

Furthermore, two journalists at ABC have claimed that Debat's sensational articles were in fact supported by Brian Ross, ABC chief investigative correspondent.[3] AP news agency has stated that ABC was now sending long time Ross producer Rhonda Schwartz to Pakistan to counter-check Debat's articles.[3] Rue 89, however, questions ABC News' decision to let the control of the investigation to Brian Ross, who was Alexis Debat's direct superior.[28] This inquiry into Debat's work as a consultant cleared his reporting, according to ABC News President David Westin (see above).

Early warnings

Alexis Debat's credentials had been called into question once.

A spokesperson for the French defense Department asked

AFP news agency also contradicted ABC News on September 6, 2002 by reporting that Debat (who was then interviewed in the case concerning Zacarias Moussaoui) had never been an "official" but a "desk officer" at the French Defence Ministry.[29]
After allegedly looking into the matter, ABC News continued to present him as "former official in the French Minister of Defense"[30] — according to Rue 89, he did make a brief passage at the Délégation aux Affaires stratégiques (Delegation of Strategic Affairs).[11]

Stéphane Dujarric, chief spokesman for the UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, said he had denounced to Patrick Wajsman, head of Politique Internationale, the bogus interview in June 2005.[14][28] Despite this warning, Debat continued to be cited by Politique Internationale as the author of interviews of international level personalities.[14] When asked why he continued to work with Debat, Patrick Wajsman declared that "Everybody can be trusted once. He seemed to be well-connected in Washington, working for ABC and the Nixon center." Debat disputes this, and claims to have evidence that Wasjman asked him to piece together this interview from Annan's speeches.[14]

Debat's work

Debat as a news source

Debat was cited as primary source for many US news reports on a range of topics since 2001:[31]

Debat as a news reporter

Replaced by ABC by "This Story Has Been Removed From the Site" or "This story has been removed from our Web site because of questions raised about the credibility of one of its authors, Alexis Debat."

Essays and articles listed at the Nixon Center

Retrieved from Google Search.

Debat in Politique Internationale

Patrick Wajsman, director of

Google cache still works for some alleged interviews. There are some discrepancies in date and issues; these come from the website itself. On its website, Politique Internationale presents itself as "the most influential Francophone journal dedicated to international questions."[32]

  • "Riyad-Washington: une alliance troublée", (Alleged) Interview of Donald de Marino. Issue n°94. Winter 2001–02.
  • "Voyage au-coeur du renseignement américain", article by Alexis Debat. Issue n°95.
  • "Vol au-dessus d'un nid de faucons", article by Alexis Debat. Issue n°99.
  • "Europe/Etats-Unis: le grand écart", (Alleged) Interview of Charles Kupchan. Issue n°99.
  • "George Bush et l'Irak: une première étape?", (Alleged) Interview of William Kristol. Issue n°101.
  • "CIA, FBI: Un monde presque parfait...", (Alleged) Interview of John MacGaffin. Issue n°102.
  • "La Planète renseignement", article by Alexis Debat. Issue n°102.
  • "Terrorisme : les années noires de la maison blanche", (Alleged) Interview of Richard Clarke. Issue n°104.
  • "Un Rêve américain", (Alleged) Interview of Arnold Schwarzenegger (co-authored by Damjan de Krnjevic-Miskovic, managing editor of The National Interest, and Alexis Debat). Issue n°105, Autumn 2004.
  • "Rendez-Vous en 2008", (Alleged) Interview of Hillary Clinton. Issue n°106, Winter 2005.
  • "Rebâtir l'Irak", (Alleged) Interview of Iyad Allaoui. Issue n°106, Winter 2005.
  • "La Maison Blanche face au défi iranien." Article by Alexis Debat. Issue n°107,
  • "L'homme qui faisait trembler Saddam Hussein...", (Alleged) Interview of Paul Wolfowitz. Issue n°107.
  • "Pour une amérique sans entraves", (Alleged) Interview of
    John Bolton
    . Issue n°109, Autumn 2005.
  • "Le Pakistan à la table des grands", (Alleged) Interview of Pervez Musharraf. Issue n°109, Autumn 2005.
  • "New York! New York!", (Alleged) Interview of Michael Bloomberg. Issue n°110, Winter 2005. Refuted by Bloomberg.
  • "Y a-t-il une vie après la Maison-Blanche?", (Alleged) Interview of Bill Clinton. Issue n°110, Winter 2005. Admitted as bogus by Debat.
  • "La Croisade de l'homme le plus riche du monde", (Alleged) Interview of Bill Clinton. Issue n°111, Spring 2006. Admitted as bogus by Debat.
  • "Mon Année à Bagdad", (Alleged) Interview of
    Paul Bremer
    . Issue n°111, Spring 2006.
  • "La Planète Renseignement", (Alleged) Interview of John MacGaffin. Issue n°112, Summer 2006.
  • "Le Magicien tire sa révérence", (Alleged) Interview of Alan Greenspan. Issue n°112, Summer 2006. Refuted by Greenspan.
  • "Egypte: Le Prochain Rais", (Alleged) Interview of
    Gamal Moubarak
    . Issue n°114, Winter 2007.
  • "La Femme la plus puissante du monde", (Alleged) Interview of Nancy Pelosi. Issue n° 114, Winter 2007. Refuted by Pelosi.
  • "Abkhazie: le fantasme de l'indépendence", (Alleged) Interview of
    Serguei Bagapch (president of self-proclaimed Abkhazia), co-signed by Alexis Debat and Nathalie Ouvaroff
    . Issue n°114, Winter 2007.
  • "De New York à Washington", (Alleged) Interview of Rudolph Giuliani. Issue n°115, Spring 2007.
  • "Objectif Maison-Blanche", (Alleged) Interview of Barack Obama, co-signed by Alexis Debat and Thérèse Delpech. Issue n°115, Spring 2007. Refuted by Obama.

Debat in Libération

  • "A Langley, pas plus de deux experts parlent pashtoun" (in Langley, "No More Than Two Experts Speak Pachtoun"), Libération, September 20, 2001 (mirrored here)
  • "Moussaoui impliqué dans un autre attentat ?", September 7, 2002
  • "Espionnage: puissant mais pas devin", February 6, 2003
  • "Le nucléaire français surveillé de près", March 23, 2003
  • "La France à la recherche du fantôme de l'aéroport", August 1, 2004
  • "La colère des espions", July 6, 2003

See also

References

  1. ^ Nicolas Bourcier et Corine Lesnes, L'« affaire Debat », un bluff américain, Le Monde, September 22, 2007 (in French)
  2. ^ a b Howard Kurtz, Consultant Probed in Bogus Interview, The Washington Post, September 13, 2007 (in English)
  3. ^ a b c d e Laura Rozen, Subject to Debat: Did ABC Know About Its Expert's Sourcing Problem?, Mother Jones, September 14, 2007 (in English)
  4. ^ According to Politique Internationale's website, acceded on September 15, 2007
  5. ^ a b Philippe Grangereau, « Alexis Debat, indiscutable expert en bobards » in Libération, September 21, 2007 on-line (in French)
  6. ^ Baum, Gary (2019-11-14). "The Secret Past of a Hollywood Futurist: "I Seek a Second Chance"". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2021-08-31.
  7. ^ Stelter, Brian (October 23, 2007). "In Inquiry, ABC News Clears Work of a Fired Consultant". The New York Times. (in English)
  8. GW Hatchet. Archived from the original
    on November 18, 2007. Retrieved November 12, 2008. (in English)
  9. ^ abcnews.go.com
  10. ^ a b c Felix Gillette, Debat Debate Archived 2008-10-16 at the Wayback Machine, The New York Observer, October 30, 2007 (in English)
  11. ^
    Rue 89
    , September 5, 2007
  12. Rue 89
    , September 13, 2007 (in French)
  13. ^ Brian Ross and Justin Rood Obama Claims Interview in French Magazine Faked, ABC News, September 12, 2007 (in English)
  14. ^ a b c d e Brian Ross: Clinton, Pelosi, Greenspan, Powell, Bloomberg, Gates, Annan Also Say Interviews 'Fakes', ABC News, September 13, 2007 (in English)
  15. ^ a b Alexis Debat Respond Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine, Talking Points Memo, September 2007 (in English)
  16. ^ Baum, Gary (November 14, 2019). "The Secret Past of a Hollywood Futurist: 'I Seek a Second Chance'". The Hollywood Reporter. (in English)
  17. ^ Alexis Debat, Crackdown on the Secret War Against Iran, ABC News, April 13, 2007 (in English)
  18. ^ Articles by Alexis Debat, on ABC News Search
  19. ^ Sarah Baxter, Pentagon ‘three-day blitz’ plan for Iran, The Sunday Times, September 2, 2007 (in English)
  20. ^ Laura Rozen, "Keeping Iran Off Balance" Archived June 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, National Journal, June 8, 2007 (in English)
  21. ^ Justin Rood and Gretchen Peters, Pakistan Denounces ABC News Report on Backing Iran Radicals, ABC News, April 5, 2007 (in English)
  22. ^ a b Laura Rozen, Alexis Debat's Pentagon Links: Did the Discredited ABC Consultant Get DOD Money Too?, Mother Jones, September 18, 2007
  23. ^ Alexis Debat, 9/11: Not A Failure. A Choice. Archived 2007-09-11 at the Wayback Machine, The National Interest, vol. 2, issue 30 (in English)
  24. PBS
    , November 7, 2005 (in English)
  25. ^ Online biography of Debat at George Washington University's Homeland Security Policy Institute, archived by the Internet Archive (in English)
  26. ^
    Rue 89, September 12, 2007 (in English) Original article
    (in French)
  27. ^
    Rue 89
    , September 14, 2007 (in English)
  28. ^
    Rue 89
    , September 15, 2007 (in English)
  29. AFP, French ministry denies source named in US TV terror report is ex-official
    , September 6, 2002 (in English)
  30. ^ Brian Ross, Is Saddam's Son More Brutal Than His Dad?, ABC News, February 14, 2003 (in English)
  31. Google News Archive Search
  32. AFP
    , September 10, 2007 (in French)
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