Andrew C. McCarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy is Senior Fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (www.defenddemocracy.org), and a Contributor at National Review Online (www.nationalreview.com).

From 1993 through 1996, while an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, he led the prosecution of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and eleven others who were convicted of levying against the United States a war of urban terrorism that included the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a plot to bomb New York City landmarks. Mr. McCarthy also made major contributions to the prosecutions of the bombers of the United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania , and the Millennium plot to attack Los Angeles International Airport . Following the September 11 attacks, he supervised the Office’s Command Post in New York City .

From 1999 through 2003, Mr. McCarthy was the Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District’s White Plains Division, responsible for federal law enforcement in six counties north of New York City .

Mr. McCarthy is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Justice Department = s highest honors: the Attorney General = s Exceptional Service Award (1996) and Distinguished Service Award (1988). He has served as a Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and as an Associate Independent Counsel in the investigation of a former cabinet official. He has also been an Adjunct Professor of Law both at the Fordham University School of Law and at New York Law School .

Currently, Mr. McCarthy practices law in the New York area while working with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, an independent, non-profit organization in Washington , D.C. , which conducts research and education on national security issues . He writes extensively on a variety of legal, social and political issues for National Review and Commentary, among other publications, as well as providing commentary for various television and radio broadcasts.