NSC Appoints Jihad Expert

Michael S. Doran ended up at the National Security Council staff in charge of the Middle East because of his unusual specialty: He is a 21st century scholar of Muslim extremist Web sites. Doran deals with topics including Iran's nuclear program, the Arab-Israeli conflict, Syria's ties to terrorists, and reform in the oil-rich Persian Gulf kingdoms.

Doran described Middle East studies on American campuses as "stultifying, homogenous, and conformist." The field has "gone into a dead end. It's highly politicized and dominated by one point of view," reflecting the pro-Arab "orientalism" of the late Palestinian-born Columbia University scholar Edward W. Said.