Public Radio called him "A larger-than-life figure" (May 20, 2005) who "helped shape AIPAC into one of the most powerful lobby groups in the country" (September 30, 2005). Haaretz said, "In the eyes of many, he is AIPAC itself." In particular, "Rosen helped pioneer 'executive-branch lobbying,' a style of advocacy that was not widespread when he began it in the mid-1980s, but is now a routine complement to the more traditional lobbying of Congress" according to The Washington Post. The Nation said Rosen is "a brilliant and, some say, ruthless bureaucratic infighter at the country's premiere Mideast lobbying group, who was emboldened by his long relationships with figures in and around the Bush Administration and the Washington scene to behave almost as an unofficial diplomatic entity in his own right" (July 14, 2005). "The special relationship between the US executive branch and AIPAC was the triumph of twenty years of work by … Rosen." Rosen's early work with the executive branch focused on expanding military cooperation between the United States and Israel. Rosen authored reports such as The Strategic Value of Israel (1982) and Israel and the U.S. Air Force (1983). Columnist William Safire and defense correspondent Drew Middleton credited one of Rosen's reports with helping to launch the U.S.–Israeli dialogue that resulted in the Strategic Cooperation Agreement during early the Ronald Reagan administration. The Washington Post later said (June 14, 1991): "[Rosen] helped convince key members of the Reagan administration that the Jewish state was a U.S. 'strategic asset' in the struggle with the Soviets. … Rosen helped encourage more cooperation than the two countries had ever enjoyed." A New Yorker profile (July 4, 2005) said: "Rosen used his contacts to carry AIPAC’s agenda to the White House. An early success came in 1983, when he helped lobby for a strategic cooperation agreement between Israel and the United States, which was signed over the objections of Caspar Weinberger, the Secretary of Defense, and which led to a new level of intelligence sharing and military sales." The Times said (July 6, 1987), "AIPAC cannot take sole credit. … But Mr. Rosen has reportedly worked to flesh out the strategic cooperation. … Despite initial opposition in the Pentagon, the relationship has become institutionalized." A major focus of Rosen's efforts in the 1990s was Iran. Rosen and his codefendant in the AIPAC/Franklin case Keith Weissman were among the first to advocate a