Alexis Debat (born 1977),Nicolas Bourcier et Corine Lesnes, L'« affaire Debat », un bluff américain, Le Monde, September 22, 2007 currently using the name Yves Bergquist, is a French former commentator on terrorism and national security issues, formerly based in Washington D.C. He worked as a reporter, consultant, and source for ABC News for six years, as a senior fellow at the Nixon Center, and was a contributing editor to The National Interest.Howard Kurtz, Consultant Probed in Bogus Interview, The Washington Post, September 13, 2007 According to Mother Jones, he was the Director of the Terrorism and National Security Program at the Nixon Center.Laura Rozen, Subject to Debat: Did ABC Know About Its Expert's Sourcing Problem?, Mother Jones, September 14, 2007 He was also part of the Consulting Committee of the French magazine Politique Internationale, headed by Patrick Wajsman,According to Politique Internationale's website, acceded on September 15, 2007 and worked until September 2007 for the National Security Institute at George Washington University on Islamist radicalization in Afghanistan since 2005.Philippe Grangereau, « Alexis Debat, indiscutable expert en bobards » in Libération, September 21, 2007 on-line Since 2003, he has been called an "expert" by Time, U.S. News & World Report, National Journal, the Boston Herald, the Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, PBS, etc. He also wrote op-eds in the Financial Times and the International Herald Tribune.
However, he resigned from ABC News in June 2007, after some ABC officials raised questions about his credentials. He is currently the director of artificial intelligence and neuroscience in media at the Entertainment Technology Center.
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 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."abcnews.go.com
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.Felix Gillette, Debat Debate , The New York Observer, October 30, 2007
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.
In September 2007, the French news media Rue 89 alleged that two interviews, one of Barack Obama and the other of former US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, both published in the French magazine Politique Internationale, had been fabricated.Pascal Riché, Une fausse interview d'Obama dans Politique Internationale / A fake interview with Barack Obama in a French well-regarded review , Rue 89, September 5, 2007Pascal Riché, Après la fausse interview d'Obama, celle de Greenspan, Rue 89, September 13, 2007 Brian Ross and Justin Rood Obama Claims Interview in French Magazine Faked, ABC News, September 12, 2007 These allegations in turn led to Debat's voluntary resignation, allegedly for "personal reasons", from The National Interest and the 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.Brian Ross: Clinton, Pelosi, Greenspan, Powell, Bloomberg, Gates, Annan Also Say Interviews 'Fakes', ABC News, September 13, 2007
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."Alexis Debat Respond , Talking Points Memo, September 2007 He admitted however having made "a mistake" for Obama's interview. 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. He has also claimed that "a technicality" had prevented the Sorbonne University from issuing his PhD, which he had not been made aware of.
Alexis Debat moved to California and currently uses the name Yves Bergquist.
Controversy over "expert" status Debat was a respected expert on terrorism issues, writing for example on the Jundallah Balochi and Sunni organisation,Alexis Debat, Crackdown on the Secret War Against Iran, ABC News, April 13, 2007 on the Tabligh organisation, on Iran and many other subjects.Articles by Alexis Debat, on ABC News Search 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".Sarah Baxter, , The Sunday Times, September 2, 2007 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.Laura Rozen, "Keeping Iran Off Balance" , National Journal, June 8, 2007 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."Justin Rood and Gretchen Peters, Pakistan Denounces ABC News Report on Backing Iran Radicals, ABC News, April 5, 2007 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.Laura Rozen, Alexis Debat's Pentagon Links: Did the Discredited ABC Consultant Get DOD Money Too?, Mother Jones, September 18, 2007 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.
Debat was paid as a "consultant" by ABC News, 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.Alexis Debat, 9/11: Not A Failure. A Choice. , The National Interest, vol. 2, issue 30
In an interview on PBS in Autumn 2005, during the riots in the French suburbs, he was introduced as a former social worker, claiming he had worked in Martine Aubry's foundation, Fondation Agir Contre l'Exclusion (FACE). On 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."Rioting continues in France, PBS, November 7, 2005
According to his (now deleted) online biography at George Washington University's Homeland Security Policy Institute (a US governmental think tank), Debat is additionally claimed to have worked as an analyst for the French government on the Counter-Terrorism Coordinating Committee, as an expert on Islamic finance and Islamic law for clients such as Deutsche Bank and the Japan External Trade Organization, as a contractor for the 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."Online biography of Debat at George Washington University's Homeland Security Policy Institute, archived by the Internet Archive
According to Jeffrey Schneider from ABC, suspicions were aroused when the French government, in May 2007, told them that they were skeptical concerning Debat's scholarship credentials.Guillemette Faure, ABC NEWS investigates one of its terrorism experts , Rue 89, September 12, 2007 Original article Thereafter, ABC launched an investigation which in June 2007 led to his resignation, before inspecting all of his preceding work for ABC. Rue 89, however, pointed out that according to the French government, ABC was the first to contact the French embassy, and not otherwise. The latter answered them that it was not their job to verify credentials. Thereafter, ABC requested to the French embassy the contacts of the French Minister of Defence in order to verify this point in Debat's Curriculum Vitae. This point was later confirmed by ABC itself, who declared that they had made a mistake. Rue 89 later announced that a whistleblower inside ABC News had launched an unofficial investigation on Debat in May 2007.Pascal Riché, A whistleblower alerted ABC News about the reliability of its consultant, Rue 89, September 14, 2007
Furthermore, two journalists at ABC have claimed that Debat's sensational articles were in fact supported by Brian Ross, ABC chief investigative correspondent. AP news agency has stated that ABC was now sending long time Ross producer Rhonda Schwartz to Pakistan to counter-check Debat's articles. Rue 89, however, questions ABC News' decision to let the control of the investigation to Brian Ross, who was Alexis Debat's direct superior. 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 Libération in September 2002 to run a correction after the French newspaper quoted Debat, presented as an "official at the French Defense Ministry", on the role Zacarias Moussaoui played in the September 11 attacks. The defense correspondent in Libération, Jean Dominique Merchet, then published the correction, stating that Debat was not currently a defense official, but had been in the past. The 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.AFP, French ministry denies source named in US TV terror report is ex-official, September 6, 2002 After allegedly looking into the matter, ABC News continued to present him as "former official in the French Minister of Defense"Brian Ross, Is Saddam's Son More Brutal Than His Dad?, ABC News, February 14, 2003 — according to Rue 89, he did make a brief passage at the Délégation aux Affaires stratégiques (Delegation of Strategic Affairs).