Allan Gerson

For most Americans, waging a battle against international terrorism became top priority on September 11, 2001. For the families of those who died in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988, that battle began thirteen years ago. Allan Gerson has been in the thick of their struggle for most of those years.

Allan Gerson, a well-known expert on international law, brought the first suit against Libya on behalf of the Lockerbie victims -- and helped write and pass the law (the 1996 amendments to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act) that makes it possible for ordinary citizens to hold foreign governments accountable for acts of terrorism. Allan Gerson and Newsweek senior editor Jerry Adler have written The Price of Terror: One bomb. One plane. 270 lives. The History-Making Struggle for Justice After Pan Am 103, a stirring account of the victims' decade-long fight for justice.

Most recently, Allan Gerson served as Senior Fellow for International Law and Organizations at the Council on Foreign Relations. An authority on international law, he earned his doctorate at Yale University and has lectured and published widely in the field. He is also the author of The Kirkpatrick Mission: Diplomacy Without Apology.

In a recent speech at a session at the General Assembly of the United Jewish Communities, Allan Gerson noted that the U.S., and to some extent Israel, is dealing with disillusionment over the failure to solve problems through peaceful means. For Israel, it is the Oslo Accords, and for the U.S., the Sept. 11 attacks. Mr. Allan Gerson called attention to the fact that all of the major points, and even phrases, used by President Bush in recent days to describe America's war on terrorism can be found in a presidential report on aviation safety commissioned 11 years ago in the wake of the Pan Am tragedy. "The fact that we did nothing" to counter terrorist attacks in the last decade "can only be described as `sick,' " said Allan Gerson, who expressed hope that the U.S. finally has learned its lesson to strike at terrorism without mercy.