Director out at US Jewish security think tank

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs is seeking a new director less than a year after its most recent hire.

“We have engaged the services of a national executive search firm as we seek the best person to assume the executive director position,” James Colbert, JINSA’s policy director, said Monday.

Larry Greenfield, a former Republican operative and a Los Angeles-area Jewish community professional hired in February, barely lasted through the summer, according to a Forward report in August, but this was the first time JINSA confirmed his departure.

The reasons for Greenfield’s departure are not clear, and he has spent the time since speaking for the Republican Party within the Jewish community and is now a senior fellow with the American Freedom Alliance, a conservative foreign policy advocacy group.

Greenfield was hired after Tom Neumann, his predecessor, went into semi-retirement, and after a period of turmoil which saw the dismissal of Shoshana Bryen, JINSA’s longtime security policy director who now works for the Jewish Policy Center.

JINSA advocates for closer relations between the US and Israeli security establishments.