Summer 2008

Committed to generating, analyzing, and distributing ideas that define a free society, the Hoover Institution at Stanford University works to limit government intrusion into the lives of individuals, improve the human condition, and secure and safeguard peace.

“I want to extend my deep appreciation to the Koret Foundation for its immense contribution through the years,” said John Raisian, the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution. “The partnership and friendship between the Koret Foundation and the Hoover Institution has been one of great success.”

For more than a decade, the Koret Foundation has supported the Hoover Institution and its mission. We are proud to provide funding for three major projects: the Koret Task Force on K–12 Education, the Koret-Taube Task Force on National Security and Law, and the Koret Distinguished Visiting Fellows Program.

The Koret Task Force on K–12 Education is a results-oriented group of scholars from a variety of disciplines who meet regularly to discuss education policy. Members generate scholarly writings, opinion pieces, books, and the top-rated quarterly Education Next, for which the task force members serve as editorial board. In addition, the Koret Task Force has been called to consult with the legislatures of Florida, Arkansas, and Texas to improve education policy in these states, and individual members have advised at the national level at institutions including the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor.

The Koret-Taube Task Force on National Security and Law, which held its inaugural meeting in January 2008, is one of eight new task forces the Hoover Institution established on the model of the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education. According to Task Force Chairman Peter Berkowitz (the Tad and Dianne Taube Senior Fellow), the task force will look at how terrorism has changed — or should change — the framework for criminal and martial law, the challenges of balancing liberty and security in a post-9/11 world, and the ideal division of labor among the three branches of government.

The Koret Distinguished Visiting Fellows Program brings international scholars to the Stanford campus for research, teaching, and collaboration. With demonstrated expertise in Israel and Middle East politics, national security, counterterrorism, and related fields, these scholars come from a broad range of potential academic disciplines, including economics, history, political science, and law.

Past Koret Distinguished Visiting Fellows have included Shavit Matias, Israel’s deputy attorney general; Itamar Rabinovich, the past president of Tel Aviv University; and Brigadier General Eival Gilady, chairman of Koret Israel Economic Development Funds and CEO of the Portland Trust in Israel.