Steven J. Rosen served for 23 years as one of the top officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). He is often singled out in writings about AIPAC.
He was indicted in August 2005 for alleged violations of the Espionage Act, but charges were dropped. The case received attention because it raised new issues about the conflict between US national security policy and civil liberties guaranteed by the First Amendment. Attorney Floyd Abrams said the AIPAC case "is the single most dangerous case for free speech and free press" and Alan Dershowitz called it "the worst case of selective prosecution I have seen in 42 years of legal practice."
On November 3, 2008, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that Rosen was working for the Middle East Forum (MEF), a think tank directed by scholar Daniel Pipes. Rosen blogged on the MEF website, devoted to Obama Administration personnel and policy. In November 2008, Rosen published "Did Iran Offer a 'Grand Bargain' in 2003?," and gave a presentation for MEF titled "Wishful Thinking and Iran."
Rosen taught political science and international relations from 1968 to 1978 at the University of Pittsburgh, Brandeis University and Australian National University. He was coauthor (with Walter S. Jones) of The Logic of International Relations, a best selling textbook that went through four editions from 1974 through 1982. From 1978 to 1982, he served as Associate Director of the National Security Strategies Program at think tank RAND Corporation, conducting and supervising research and analysis of classified material under contract with the Pentagon and the US State Department.