Unbelievable. The man responsbile for writing the long-discredited book The Bible Code, Michael Drosnin, gave an intelligence briefing to the Pentagon and has reportedly given others to the Mossad. This article suggests that the officials didn't know what a loon he is and were just polite, but Drosnin has written a letter to the editor claiming that they did in fact take his advice.

Drosnin's book claimed that there are a bunch of "hidden messages", of the form "Kennedy Dallas" and "Clinton President", that can be found in the Hebrew Bible, and that this is proof of the existence of God. He claimed that similar messages were not there to be found in the King James Version or in other works of literature.

It didn't take long for his outlandish claims to be thoroughly and spectacularly debunked. The whole story is here in these two articles in Skeptical Inquirer magazine, plus Brendan McKay's work finding similar "messages" in Moby Dick.

Frankly, I'd have thought that this would have been more than enough to send him scurrying back into obscurity, but apparently people like Drosnin have no shame and no capacity to learn. The next time you hear the name Michael Drosnin, just laugh. He deserves no better.

Links to original NYT article and Drosnin's letter via Atrios.