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. Cliff May 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. Cliff 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), Cliff May has covered stories in more than two dozen countries, including Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, Ethiopia, China, Uzbekistan, Northern Ireland and Russia. Cliff May is a frequent guest on national and international television and radio news programs, providing analysis and participating in debates on national security issues. Cliff May 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 Cliff May 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, Cliff May 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, Cliff 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, Cliff 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 Cliff 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, Cliff 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. Cliff May holds masters degrees from both Columbia University's School of Public and International Affairs and its School of Journalism. Cliff May 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) 2009 Townhall.com, A Salem Communications Web. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED jim.dearras@townhall.com (Jim De Arras) Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:22:24 GMT Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:22:24 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ People forget how small Israel is. Its entire population is a little over 7 million - smaller than Lima, Peru. Its land area is about 8,000 square miles, smaller than New Jersey or Belize. By comparison, Jordan, its... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2009/11/05/small_miracle 2aa9ccb3-4f8a-4522-b471-4617e734a771 Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:22:24 GMT Almost a year ago, New York Times correspondent David Rohde was abducted by the Taliban. I was in Afghanistan at the time and, like many Westerners in the country, I heard about it but agreed not to write about it.... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2009/10/29/where_rohde_leads 3c093e77-a572-4750-8953-c362f322c6db Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:24:49 GMT Don't fault President Obama for reconsidering his strategy in Afghanistan. Fault him for reconsidering his strategy only in Afghanistan. Nearing the end of his first year in office, his administration has not yet... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2009/10/23/disconnecting_the_dots 8cfd12c4-f8d4-4d84-9b72-cce52e3160aa Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:55:14 GMT ISLAMABAD - I picked an interesting moment to visit Pakistan: four terrorist attacks in less than a week. The first was at the World Food Programme office here in the capital; 5 killed. The second was in the Khyber... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2009/10/15/pakistan_notebook 24e4c8f6-abb9-43ab-a6f0-066b4813d3d8 Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:44:48 GMT In 1981, Israeli leaders sent bombers to destroy Saddam Hussein's nuclear reactor at Osirak. Rafael Eitan, then Israel's Army Chief of Staff, is said to have explained the motivation succinctly: "The alternative is our... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2009/10/01/can_sanctions_cripple_iran 52ac9161-9dcd-4105-bfdf-c088e0f4cab5 Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:44:29 GMT In 1996, Vice President Al Gore was named by President Bill Clinton to chair the White House Commission on Aviation Safety. Over the months that followed, he and an impressive list of commissioners -- including senior... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2009/09/24/authority_complex 8285d356-7fbd-4bb2-ad94-f7cb3ee0f5e7 Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:41:25 GMT Missile defense - as the term might suggest - is defensive, not offensive. Brilliant American scientists have developed sophisticated technologies to prevent missiles - including those armed with nuclear warheads - from... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2009/09/17/why_is_missile_defense_controversial ff32ae53-6301-4ecc-bb5e-6a14b0a8ca16 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:51:26 GMT Eight years ago this week, Osama bin Laden watched and then celebrated as a terrorist attack he had authorized brought down the World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon, slaughtering thousands of innocent... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2009/09/10/eight_years_and_counting 38b8e65b-b8d8-4603-a6ee-f45a12e210ed Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:57:08 GMT Bill Gates famously called George Gilder "very stimulating even when I disagree with him, and most of the time I agree with him." The issues on which Gilder has staked out stimulating positions over more than 30 years... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2009/09/03/whats_israel_got_to_do_with_it 323ebbc9-7e77-4050-a4b8-e8d91ba57274 Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:59:41 GMT During the 1990s, most of us thought we were living in a period of unprecedented peace and prosperity. We even spent the "peace dividend" - cutting resources for intelligence and the military. The Cold War was over. We... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2009/08/27/crisis_management 8589e196-d0a1-4f6e-9b3f-3878bc6f1af3 Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:14:10 GMT When it comes to peace in the Middle East, we've tried just about everything and nothing has worked. And if you believe that, there's a bridge over the River Jordan I want to sell you. The truth is that one American... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2009/08/06/process_this 2fc163a5-8eaa-4d16-9e75-211c4172daef Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:19:21 GMT Historian Bernard Lewis has observed that a nation can make few mistakes worse than this: to be "harmless as an enemy, and treacherous as a friend." Is that a fair characterization of American foreign policy under the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2009/07/30/friends_and_foes 775e6cc8-6e86-423a-9afd-54fcb6f454a4 Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:37:27 GMT In 1993, R. James Woolsey, about to become President Clinton's first director of Central Intelligence, remarked to a Senate committee on the defeat of international communism: "We have slain a large dragon" He then... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2009/07/23/rethinking_the_long_war 401451ef-67ce-47d5-9f5e-124e219028d6 Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:14:17 GMT Afghans and Pakistanis both dislike the term "AfPak." But the fact is the two nations now constitute a single front -- the most "kinetic" front -- in the global war being waged by militant Islamists. During his... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2009/07/16/the_afpak_front d0c88c14-30ad-4b8e-85fa-e497ee97b3a2 Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:46:14 GMT The news is not that American combat troops withdrew from Iraqi cities. The news is that American combat troops withdrew from Iraqi cities in victory -- rather than in defeat. Two years ago at this... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2009/07/09/an_american_victory cf955fb4-dd29-4e26-917a-3717111c9e16 Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:55:27 GMT