WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's appointment as head of a U.S. intelligence council has been identified by the Center for Security Policy as a member of the 'Iran lobby'.   

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"This is a really serious error on the part of Dennis Blair and the Obama administration," Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy and an official under the administration of President Ronald Reagan, said.

"Both in government and certainly in the period since he left government, he has compromised the objectivity that one would want in the person whose job it is to oversee the production of National Intelligence Estimates."

The sources said Blair sent Freeman on missions to China when the former was head of U.S. Pacific Command. From 1979 to 1981, Freeman was director for Chinese affairs at the State Department.

As NIC chairman, the sources said, Freeman, who joined the State Department in 1965, would serve as gatekeeper to U.S. intelligence. They said he would decide what intelligence and analysis would be released to Congress and the American public.

In 2007, NIC released a National Intelligence Estimate that asserted that Iran abandoned its nuclear weapons program in 2003, a conclusion later renounced by many in the Bush administration.

"This man can't help himself," a government source who worked with Freeman said. "He is rabidly anti-Semitic and everything he does ends up involving Israel and Jews."

"As NIC chief, Freeman would encourage rapproachment with Iran and an appeasement policy toward China," a congressional staffer who worked with Freeman said. "He will play a very significant role in the U.S. intelligence community."

The sources recall one government briefing by Freeman on China that included Jewish staffers of Congress. At one point in the briefing, the sources said, Freeman pointed to the Jews, calling them "you people" and questioning their loyalty to the United States.

"It was shocking, mostly because the briefing had nothing to do with Israel, the Middle East or Jews," a participant said. "He just simply saw some Jews in the room and went at them."

The sources said Obama did not seek Freeman, who never held a job in the intelligence community, to chair NIC. They said Freeman, president of the Saudi-funded Middle East Policy Council since 1997, was sought by Blair and approved by CIA director Leon Panetta.

On Feb. 26, Blair formally selected Freeman as NIC chairman. The appointment does not require approval by Congress.

"Freeman is reportedly the Obama administration's pick to be the next chairman of the hugely sensitive National Intelligence Council, a position from which he would be able to exercise profound influence on U.S. policies towards Iran," the CSP eport said.

Several members of Congress have called for an investigation into the appointment of Freeman. The members, including House Republicans and Democrats, have demanded a review of Freeman's links with Saudi Arabia and whether they pose a conflict of interest with his new job.

"In a position as critical as this, we need to ensure that American interests are being served and that no one in the position has established ties to other governments or entities materially supported by foreign governments," Rep. Steve Israel, a New York Democrat and member of the House Select Intelligence Oversight Panel, wrote in a letter to Edward Maguire, inspector-general of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

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