EMERSON, Steven A. 1954-

PERSONAL: Born June 6, 1954, in New York, NY; son of Michael and Elaine Emerson. Education: Brown University, B.A., 1976, M.A., 1977.

ADDRESSES: Home—3930 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 202, Washington, DC 20008. Office—Investigative Project, 5505 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20015. Agent—Morton Janklow, Janklow & Nesbit, 598 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10022.

CAREER: Journalist and author. U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Washington, DC, staff member, 1977-81; U.S. News and World Report, Washington, DC, senior editor, 1986-89; Cable News Network (CNN), contributing correspondent, 1990-94; Investigative Project, Washington, DC, executive director, 1995—.

AWARDS, HONORS: George Polk Award for television documentary, 1994; Albert J. Wood Public Affairs Award, Middle East Forum, 1997; has received three Investigative Reporters and Editors awards for best national investigative reporting.

WRITINGS:

The American House of Saud: The Secret PetrodollarConnection, F. Watts (New York, NY), 1985.

Secret Warriors: Inside the Covert Military Operations of the Reagan Era, Putnam (New York, NY), 1988.

(With Brian Duffy) The Fall of Pan Am 103: Inside the Lockerbie Investigation, Putnam (New York, NY), 1990.

(With Cristina Del Sesto) Terrorist: The Inside Story of the Highest-Ranking Iraqi Terrorist Ever to Defect to the West, Random House (New York, NY), 1991.

Worldwide Jihad Movement: Militant Islam Targets the West, Institute of the World Jewish Congress (Jerusalem, Israel), 1995.

American Jihad: The Terrorists Living among Us, Free Press (New York, NY), 2002.

Contributor to periodicals, including American Journalism Review, Los Angeles Times, New Republic, New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. Also wrote and produced "Jihad in America," broadcast by PBS on November 21, 1994.

SIDELIGHTS: Steven A. Emerson is a freelance print and broadcast journalist who has gained considerable distinction with his probing, often controversial investigations. In 1995 Emerson founded the Investigative Project, which has grown into the largest private intelligence organization focused on militant Islam. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, he has been in great demand as an expert in Islamist terrorist organizations and the methods they use to recruit members and raise funds in the United States.

In his first book, The American House of Saud: The Secret Petrodollar Connection, Emerson reveals that many American companies and businesses in various dealings—including arms sales—with the Saudis became, in effect, unofficial lobbyists acting on behalf of the Saudis in Washington, D.C. According to New York Times reviewer Bernard Gwertzman, The American House of Saud constitutes "a full-length compendium which lists, in elaborate detail, the financial stake of many prominent American corporations, law firms, public-relations outfits and educational institutions in Saudi Arabia." Hoyt Purvis, writing in the New York Times Book Review, reported that with The American House of Saud Emerson has "unearthed some inside intelligence," and J. B. Kelly, in his assessment for the Los Angeles Times Book Review, noted that Emerson "has done his research with commendable assiduity." Kelly added that the book is written "in lively, at times even gripping, fashion."

Emerson followed The American House of Saud with Secret Warriors: Inside the Covert Military Operations of the Reagan Era. Here he reports that the U.S. Department of Defense established its own undercover operation, distinct from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), after the failed attempt to rescue hostages from Iran in 1980. One such military operation, Emerson continues, involved CIA director William Casey, National Security Council staff member Oliver North, and former army general Richard Secord, all of whom were eventually implicated in an alleged agreement to provide the hostile Iranian government with weapons in exchange for the release of hostages. Thomas Powers, writing in the New York Times Book Review, described Secret Warriors as "a reporter's book, full of stories and colorful characters," and he proclaimed it a "fine book."

With his next volume, The Fall of Pan Am 103: Inside the Lockerbie Investigation, Emerson teamed with Brian Duffy to provide an insightful probe into the explosion that killed 270 people aboard a jumbo jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988. The explosion was traced to a Syrian-supported Palestinian organization operating in West Germany. In uncovering the terrorism behind the explosion, according to Emerson and Duffy, various European and American teams revealed considerable shortcomings—including corruption and incompetence—in their efforts to uncover and defeat terrorists. "What arises from reading [The Fall of Pan Am 103]," contended Los Angeles Times contributor Robert H. Kupperman, "is the specter of negligence and arrogance by governments before the tragedy, and a trail of cover-up and interstate competition during the subsequent mammoth international investigation." He added that the book is "worthwhile reading." Washington Post Book World reviewer Steven Luxenberg was disturbed by the book's indication that terrorists possess the necessary resources and conviction to continue triumphing over present preventive measures. "The lesson that emerges from [The Fall of Pan Am 103] is not that good or well-intentioned people sometimes screw up," contended Luxenberg. "The lesson is that bad people—terrorists—are smart enough and obsessed enough to get around some of the best security systems in the world."

Emerson is also author—with Cristina Del Sesto—of Terrorist: The Inside Story of the Highest-Ranking Iraqi Terrorist Ever to Defect to the West. The book's subject is Adnan Awad, who surrendered to American authorities in 1982. According to Emerson and Del Sesto, Awad subsequently cooperated with Justice Department investigators who were tracking another suspected terrorist, Mohammed Rashid. The department's efforts, however, were reportedly undermined by CIA and National Security Council operatives eager to maintain their own covert ties with terrorist sympathizers in Iraq. Adrienne Edgar, writing in the New York Times Book Review, noted that Terrorist "offers new evidence of the bankruptcy of United States foreign policy under Ronald Reagan," and she deemed the volume "a chilling indictment of the cynicism and shortsightedness of the Reagan foreign policy team."

In 2002 Emerson published American Jihad: The Terrorists Living among Us, the culmination of a decade-long exploration of the ways terrorist organizations, such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and of course Al Qaeda, have operated in the United States, often with impunity, through undercover agents, front groups, and radical mosques. "Emerson paints a picture that, until recently, had been ignored or misunderstood by U.S. security and law enforcement officials, who in many cases were held back by inadequate funding, lack of linguistic skills, legal impediments, and a misunderstanding of the potential danger," explained Security Management contributor Mayer Nudell. Emerson recounts his initial encounter with radical Islam in 1992 when he wandered into a meeting of the Muslim Arab Youth Association in Okalahoma City. He was amazed to hear numerous speakers call for the killing of Jews and Christians and the annihilation of the West, and surprised to discover that the FBI knew nothing of this meeting and was not empowered to investigate even if it had known. Spurred on by this initial encounter, Emerson went on to discover numerous other organizations that have been set up or penetrated by Islamic militants and to call for greater scrutiny, and prosecution, of these terrorist recruitment methods. His efforts stirred considerable opposition, particularly after his documentary, "Jihad in America," was broadcast by PBS in 1994. Numerous Muslim leaders denounced him as an anti-Islamic extremist, and some commentators questioned his accuracy.

"Emerson may not be a scholar, and he may sometimes connect unrelated dots. He may also occasionally be quite wrong. But he is an investigator who has performed a genuine service by focusing on radical Islamic groups in this country. His information should be taken seriously—just not at face value," wrote New York Times Book Review critic Ethan Bronner in his review of American Jihad. Others were equally adamant in defending Emerson and denouncing his critics. Reviewing the book in Commentary, Terry Eastland, a former Justice Department official, wrote, "Groups that put incendiary speakers at their microphones or that permit themselves to be used by radicals bent on jihad, should be exempt neither from criticism nor from the scrutiny of the law. But the sad fact is that, for far too long, groups preaching hatred and violence have indeed escaped scrutiny. If Emerson's warnings had been heeded when he first issued them, our country might not be in the difficult straits in which it finds itself today."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Commentary, March, 2003, Terry Eastland, review of American Jihad: The Terrorists Living among Us, p. 77.

Los Angeles Times, August 7, 1990, Robert H. Kupperman, review of The Fall of Pan Am 103: Inside the Lockerbie Investigation.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, May 19, 1985, J. B. Kelly, review of The American House of Saud: The Secret Petrodollar Connection, p. 1.

New York Times, July 11, 1985, Bernard Gwertzman, review of The American House of Saud, p. 17.

New York Times Book Review, June 23, 1985, Hoyt Purvis, review of The American House of Saud, p. 14; June 26, 1988, Thomas Powers, review of Secret Warriors: Inside the Covert Military Operations of the Reagan Era, p. 12; May 19, 1991, Adrienne Edgar, review of Terrorist: The Inside Story of the Highest-Ranking Iraqi Terrorist Ever to Defect to the West, p. 14; May 17, 2002, Ethan Bronner, "Suspect Thy Neighbor," p. 10.

Security Management, June, 2002, Mayer Nudell, review of American Jihad, p. 128.

Washington Post Book World, May 6, 1990, Steven Luxenberg, review of The Fall of Pan Am 103, pp. 1, 4.*