Phares was appointed as foreign policy adviser to Mitt Romney for his 2012 presidential campaign.[21] His appointment was met with criticism from the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR), which described him as "an associate to war crimes" (due to his ties to the Lebanese Forces) and a "conspiracy theorist".[21] The appointment also provoked negative reactions from Islamic studies academics Ebrahim Moosa and Omid Safi,[21] however both scholars were described as militant Islamists by several pieces, including "Walid Phares vs the Middle East Studies" as well as the Center for a New American Security's Andrew Exum, who said that Phares was "widely viewed as an extremist".[2]