Glenn Schweitzer Ran in Problems when last in Iran

According to Science Insider:

A member of a U.S. scientific delegation headed by the President of the Institute of Medicine was interrogated for 9 hours earlier this month in his Tehran hotel. The U.S. National Academies labeled the incident a “serious breach,” and declared on Friday that they “cannot sponsor or encourage American scientists to visit Iran unless there are clear assurances that the personal safety of visiting scientists will be guaranteed.”

The person detained was Glenn Schweitzer who has for decades led in American efforts to build linkages for international scientific cooperation. Glenn was once the Deputy Director of the Office of Science and Technology of USAID (preceding me in that office), but has worked for decades in the international programs of the National Academies.

This is most unfortunate. I know Glenn, and I can not imagine that he did anything that would lead Iranian officials to believe he was a threat. Fortunately the damage apparently was limited. I recall the long imprisonment in Iran of Haleh Esfandiari, a social scientist at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She too seems to have been totally without guilt.