Interview: Helmut Sonnenfeldt with Philip Geyelin

Helmut Sonnenfeldt, now a visiting scholar at the Brookings Institute, was born in Berlin and became a U.S. citizen in 1944. A graduate of SAIS, he was thL· review's first editor. Later he served as a Soviet scholar and director of intelligence and research in the State Department, moved to the White House to become senior member of the National Security Council staff, and then returned to the State Department as counselor under Secretary KL·singer. In 1976 he was "traduced," in ^singer's words, by a series of newspaper columns that elevated a confidential account of an informal policy dmussion to the level of a "Sonnenfeldt Doctrine." The incident was shortly caught up in the presidential campaign of that year as evidence of a supposed "softness" toward the Soviet's role in Eastern Europe—"an absurd accusation," according to Kttsinger, "reflecting a woeful ignorance of the convictions and contributions of an outstanding public servant" whose "superb analyses" have been confirmed "with the passage of time to be penetrating, shrewd, and wL·^ " In the following interview with Philip Geyelin, syndicated columntit and editor-in-residence at The Johns Hopkins Foreign Policy Institute, SAIS, Mr. Sonnenfeldt dxcusses the circumstances surrounding the matter ofthe "Sonnenfeldt Doctrine" and updates hL· views on current issues having to do with Poland in particuhr, and East-West refations in general.