Clifford D. May is the President of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a policy institute focusing on terrorism created immediately following the 9/11 attacks on the United States. He is also the Chairman of the Policy Committee of the Committee on the Present Danger (CPD), an international, non-partisan organization based in Washington D.C. comprised of leading members of the national security community. Mr. May has had a long and distinguished career in international relations, journalism, communications and politics. A veteran news reporter, foreign correspondent and editor (at The New York Times and other publications), he has covered stories in more than two dozen countries, including Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, Ethiopia, China, Uzbekistan, Northern Ireland and Russia. He is a frequent guest on national and international television and radio news programs, providing analysis and participating in debates on national security issues. He writes a weekly column that is nationally distributed by Scripps Howard News Service and he is a regular contributor for National Review Online, The American Spectator and other publications. In 2006 he was appointed to a Military and Security Working Group of the United States Institute of Peace, an independent nonpartisan national institution established and funded by Congress. From 1997 to 2001, he served as the Director of Communications for the Republican National Committee. In that role, he was the Republican Party's staff spokesman, and appeared frequently on national television and radio programs. In addition, he managed all RNC communications activities, including long-range strategic planning; press, radio and television services; online services; TV and radio coaching; speech writing; advertising and marketing. He also served as the Editor of the official Republican magazine, Rising Tide. After leaving the RNC, he was named Senior Managing Director in the Washington, D.C. office of Weber Shandwick, a firm specializing in public affairs advocacy, public relations and media relations. Prior to coming to the RNC, Mr. May was the Associate Editor of the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colorado. While in Colorado, Mr. May hosted a talk radio program on the dominant station in the region, and produced and moderated an interview program on KRMA-TV (a PBS station). In addition, Mr. May served as host/moderator for the weekly, nationally distributed TCI cable television series, Race for the Presidency, which featured "resident analysts" Dick Lamm, Gary Hart and Don Hodel. Before moving to Colorado Mr. May spent nearly a decade with The New York Times as a reporter in both New York and Washington, an editor of The New York Times Sunday Magazine and a foreign correspondent. He established the Times' West Africa bureau and, as Bureau Chief, covered more than a score of African nations. Earlier in his career, Mr. May was the Roving Foreign Correspondent for Hearst newspapers, reporting from a variety of global hotspots. During that same period, Mr. May provided special coverage for CBS Radio News and Bill Moyers' Journal on PBS. Prior to that, Mr. May was Senior Editor of Geo Magazine, and an Associate Editor for international news at Newsweek. He holds masters degrees from both Columbia University's School of Public and International Affairs and its School of Journalism. He earned his BA from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y. In addition, he holds a certificate in Russian language and literature from the University of Leningrad. http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay http://media.townhall.com/TownHall/icons/TH-feed-icon-128x128.gif http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay TownHall.com, Where your opinion counts. 128 Copyright (c) 2008 Townhall.com, A Salem Communications Web. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED jim.dearras@townhall.com (Jim De Arras) Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:23:26 GMT Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:23:26 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ If you don't live in Washington, New York, or another big city, you may think: "Even if the terrorists do strike again on American soil, my hometown and my family probably aren't in danger." Think again. In 2001 the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2008/08/14/future_shockwave 2c5b5a6f-87a4-4449-9ce4-0147de9a425c Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:23:26 GMT If you were advising a friend who was unfit and lacking energy, would you tell him to diet or exercise? You'd probably suggest he do both. Right now, America is literally short on energy and, largely as a result,... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2008/08/07/energy_independence_thats_what_voters_want_politicians_to_pursue_-_and_not_just_by_talking_about_it 3c963a16-0cf7-40b3-a0ca-ae18770f3dd7 Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:05:27 GMT It's often said that the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 were a "wake-up call' - that they forced both the political class and the public to seriously (if belatedly) address a peril that for years had been minimized and... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2008/07/24/beyond_complacency_the_anti-anti-terrorists_push_for_unilateral_disarmament dc33a3b0-b24a-4c2a-bbac-0e2d62e9d383 Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:35:55 GMT The folks over at OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, must think we're pretty stupid. The other day, Chakib Khelil, the current OPEC president, asserted that "the intrusion of bioethanol on the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2008/07/17/the_disinformation_age_opec_lies,_the_suv_dies 7162f84c-6c52-492c-9e80-b1b8237ef937 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:38:04 GMT It turns out that war in the 21st century is not just about killing bad guys. In Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus has demonstrated that to win modern battles soldiers must do more than attack enemies - they also must make... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2008/06/26/warfare,_lawfare,_and_jawfare 6a21507e-4c89-4ba7-8f79-36b89098641e Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:00:01 GMT People say we're addicted to oil but that's imprecise and unfair. Our automobiles are addicted to oil. And America has been designed around the automobile. We - America's taxpayers - have built an elaborate... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2008/06/19/were_not_addicts! 0c732b18-c8d9-4c2f-8bbc-ba595bfab5eb Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:43:15 GMT Bud McFarlane served in the Marines and, years later, as President Reagan's National Security Advisor. So I listened up when, at a Foundation for Defense of Democracies workshop on energy security, he said of Saudi... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2008/06/05/energy_insurance 13787c58-8233-4d80-8c37-22cd49af6067 Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:45:42 GMT There's an anniversary this week we might do well to recall. On May 29, 1453 - just 555 short years ago -- troops led by Mehmed II broke through the walls of the ancient Christian capital of Constantinople. Mehmed... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2008/05/29/you_must_remember_this 2e53f228-2642-486f-8f52-2ecdb7f2be95 Thu, 29 May 2008 14:14:25 GMT To celebrate July 4th, Americans shoot off fireworks - a colorful reminder of the struggle for independence. This month, Israelis have been celebrating 60 years of independence and any store-bought pyrotechnics are... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2008/05/22/the_missing_moderates aee1b9a3-8df7-44f7-8d37-773a267beaf8 Thu, 22 May 2008 17:35:26 GMT Is democracy on the march or is it in retreat? I put that question to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this week. I suggested the answer was, at best, uncertain: Elections in Gaza have led to the creation of a... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2008/05/15/history_is_back e25cdfb4-a536-4dd4-84ab-123cde840f35 Thu, 15 May 2008 14:38:59 GMT It's become the conventional wisdom and William Tucker, writing in The Weekly Standard, expressed it most eloquently: "Right now, we're trying to run our cars on corn ethanol instead of gasoline. As a result, we... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2008/05/08/food_fight 85fe79d9-0b0e-452e-b0e2-8d418c8736fa Thu, 08 May 2008 14:18:33 GMT There's an old joke about astronomers discovering a giant meteor heading toward the Earth, and the Washington Post running the headline: "World To End; Minorities and Poor To Suffer Most." Well, on Sunday the front page... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2008/05/01/the_hunger 0e79890e-1abc-4e45-a06c-187c015b1ab9 Thu, 01 May 2008 14:39:01 GMT The next time Islamist terrorists attack us it could be with a nuclear weapon. By saying that, am I "fear mongering"? If so, I'm in good company. Graham Allison is a Harvard professor who served with distinction in the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2008/04/24/thinking_the_unthinkable 53dc1dac-2add-4a20-9151-2bd91d248945 Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:37:41 GMT Let's be fair to Jimmy Carter. Let's suppose he isn't indulging in egotistical grandstanding, that he doesn't harbor a deep-seated bias against Israel, and that he's not been influenced by the millions of dollars... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2008/04/17/carters_confusion 484808af-921a-415e-b856-cf08510c0357 Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:33:24 GMT A growing number of Democrats have falsely accused Sen. John McCain of "promising" 100 years of war in Iraq. In fact, McCain's point was that the presence of American forces promotes stability. That's been the case in... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2008/04/10/a_hundred_years_of_war 1bf70044-4d6d-4920-ba6e-d56c3dfb02c0 Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:57:01 GMT