Press Advisory

The Terrorism Index

A Survey of America's Top Experts on the State of Terrorism and U.S. National Security

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Tuesday, February 13, 2007, the latest installment of The Terrorism Index by the Center for American Progress and Foreign Policy magazine will be released.  The bipartisan Index surveyed over 100 terrorism and national security experts with military, government, intelligence, and academic backgrounds.   The Terrorism Index provides an assessment of the war on terror and the state of U.S. national security.  It also provides an analysis of the effect of U.S. diplomatic policy and predictions for possible attacks on American soil.  The bipartisan Terrorism Index again shows consensus among participants and some surprising results.

Featured Speakers:
Congressman Silvestre Reyes, (D-TX)
Congressman Christopher Shays , (R-CT)
 
Introductory Remarks by:
John Podesta, President and Chief Executive Officer, Center for American Progress

Presentation of Survey Results:
William J. Dobson, Managing Editor, Foreign Policy

Moderated by:
Tom Daschle, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress

February 13, 2007, 9:00am 10:30am

Breakfast will be served at 8:30 a.m.

Location

Center for American Progress
1333 H St. NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20005
Map & Directions

Nearest Metro: Blue/Orange Line to McPherson Square or Red Line to Metro Center

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Biographies

Congressman Christopher Shays has distinguished himself as a thoughtful and independent advocate for common-sense social and fiscal policy in more than three decades of public service. Christopher is a senior member of the Government Reform Committee, Ranking Member and former Chairman of its Subcommittee on National Security and a member of the Homeland Security Committee. An expert on terrorism who has held 99 hearings on the terrorist threat, he devotes much of his time to improving our nation’s military, intelligence and homeland security operations through tough oversight and legislative reforms, such as implementing the 9-11 Commission recommendations.
He has also been a committed advocate for good government as the driving force behind strengthening our nation’s campaign finance laws, requiring Congress to live by the laws it writes and holding elected leaders to a higher ethical standard. Christopher and his wife Betsi grew up in Darien. After serving in Fiji as Peace Corps volunteers, they spent 27 years in Stamford and now reside in Bridgeport. He is a graduate of Principia College and received his MBA and MPA from New York University.

Congressman Silvestre Reyes became the first Hispanic to represent the 16th District of Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996. Reyes, a Vietnam combat veteran, served in the U.S. Border Patrol for 26 and a half years prior to his election to Congress, serving both as an agent and sector chief in McAllen and El Paso, Texas. In December 2006, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi named Reyes Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, a committee on which he has served since 2001. His early agenda as Intelligence Chairman includes strengthening U.S. intelligence in Iraq along with conducting focused oversight on intelligence activities that impact the civil liberties of American citizens, including the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program. Reyes also serves on the House Armed Services Committee and the Select Intelligence Oversight Panel, a panel composed of Members of the Appropriations and Intelligence Committees established in response 9/11 Commission recommendations to conduct oversight of intelligence program funding.

John Podesta is the president and CEO of the Center for American Progress and visiting professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center. Podesta served as chief of staff to President William J. Clinton from October 1998 until January 2001, where he was responsible for directing, managing, and overseeing all policy development, daily operations, Congressional relations, and staff activities of the White House. He coordinated the work of cabinet agencies with a particular emphasis on the development of federal budget and tax policy, and served in the President’s Cabinet and as a principal on the National Security Council.

From 1997 to 1998 he served as both an Assistant to the President and deputy chief of staff. Earlier, from January 1993 to 1995, he was Assistant to the President, Staff Secretary and a senior policy adviser on government information, privacy, telecommunications security and regulatory policy. Podesta previously held a number of positions on Capitol Hill including: counselor to Democratic Leader Senator Thomas A. Daschle; chief counsel for the Senate Agriculture Committee; chief minority counsel for the Senate Judiciary Subcommittees on Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks; Security and Terrorism; and Regulatory Reform; and counsel on the Majority Staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
John is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and Knox College.

William J. Dobson is the Managing Editor of Foreign Policy. He is responsible for managing the editorial planning and production of the magazine, as well as top editing and commissioning feature articles, essays, and reviews.
Prior to joining FP, Mr. Dobson served as Newsweek International’s Senior Editor for Asia. In this position, he oversaw the magazine’s weekly coverage of Asia, supervising the assignments of foreign correspondents in over 15 countries. During his tenure, Newsweek International received six honors from the Society of Publishers of Asia–a record for any publication–including General Excellence, Best Reporting, and Best Photography and Design. Previously, he served as an Associate Editor at Foreign Affairs and as a Junior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

A regular source of commentary and analysis for a variety of news outlets, Mr. Dobson has appeared on such programs as CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, Lou Dobbs Tonight, and Your World Today, MSNBC Live, National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, Talk of the Nation, On Point, and To the Point, among others.

His articles and essays on international politics and Asia have appeared in Foreign Policy, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, The New Republic, Newsweek International, and elsewhere. In 2006, he was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. Mr. Dobson is also a 1994 Truman Scholar.
Mr. Dobson holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a Masters degree in East Asian Studies from Harvard University. He received his bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from Middlebury College.

Tom Daschle is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. Senator Daschle’s work for the Center focuses on health care policy and global economic, security and health issues. Senator Daschle is also a member of the Global Alliances’ steering committee, an international coalition of progressive leaders dedicated to the development and exchange of progressive policy ideas.

In addition to his work at the Center, Senator Daschle is also a visiting professor at the Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute, conducting student seminars, guest lectures in classrooms, and holding public discussions related to politics and policymaking.
Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978, Tom Daschle served there until 1986 when he was elected to the U.S. Senate from South Dakota. He became Minority Leader of the Senate in 1994 and Majority Leader in 2001. He was the second longest serving Democratic leader in history. Daschle now serves as a Senior Policy Advisor in the Washington office of the law firm Alston and Bird.

Senator Daschle attended South Dakota State University and graduated in 1969. He served for three years as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force Strategic Command.

The Foreign Policy is the premier, award-winning magazine of global politics, economics, and ideas. Founded in 1970 by Samuel Huntington and Warren Demian Manshel, and now published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C., our mission is to explain how the world works — in particular, how the process of global integration is reshaping nations, institutions, cultures, and, more fundamentally, our daily lives.