Steven Emerson

Steven Emerson
Steven Emerson is considered one of the leading authorities on Islamic extremist networks, financing and operations. He serves as the Executive Director of The Investigative Project on Terrorism, a non-profit organization that serves one of the world's largest storehouses of archival data and intelligence on Islamic and Middle Eastern terrorist groups. Emerson and his staff frequently provide briefings to U.S. government and law enforcement agencies, members of Congress and congressional committees, and print and electronic media on terrorist financing and operational networks of Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and the rest of the worldwide Islamic militant spectrum. Since 9-11, Emerson has been interviewed frequently on all the major television networks and in the national and international print media. The website of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, which was started in September 2007, is now considered one of the top counter-terrorism websites in the world and can be accessed at www.investigativeproject.org. Emerson launched The Investigative Project on Terrorism in 1995, following the November 1994 broadcast of his documentary film, "Jihad in America," on public television. The film exposed clandestine operations of militant Islamic terrorist groups on American soil. For the film, Emerson received numerous awards including the George Polk Award for best television documentary, one of the most prestigious awards in journalism. He also received the top prize from the Investigative Reporters and Editors Organization (IRE) for best investigative report in both print and television for the documentary. The award from IRE was the fourth he had received from that group. The documentary, which was featured on 60 Minutes, has become standard viewing for federal law enforcement and intelligence organizations. Emerson is recognized as one of the first terrorism experts to have testified and warned about the threat of Islamic militant networks operating in the United States and their connections worldwide. In a pioneering congressional testimony delivered in 1998, he specifically warned about the threat of Osama Bin Laden's network. Nearly every one of the terrorist suspects and groups first identified in his 1994 film have been indicted, convicted, or deported since 9-11. Emerson is the author or co-author of six books on terrorism and national security, including: "Jihad Incorporated: A Guide to Militant Islam in the U.S." (Prometheus, 2006) "American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us" (The Free Press, 2002) "Terrorist: The Inside Story of the Highest-Ranking Iraqi Terrorist Ever to Defect to the West" (Villard Books /Random House, 1991) "The Fall of Pan Am 103: Inside the Lockerbie Investigation" (Putnam's Sons, 1990) "Secret Warriors: Inside the Covert Military Operations of the Reagan Era" (Putnam's Sons, 1988) "The American House of Saud: The Secret Petrodollar Connection" (Franklin Watts, 1985) Prior to starting the Investigative Project on Terrorism, Emerson worked as a correspondent for CNN and previously as a senior editor at US News and World Report. His first job in Washington DC in 1977 was as a staff researcher for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He has a BA and MA from Brown University and once ran a marathon in 2 hours, 59 minutes, a feat he was never able to repeat again.

ARTICLES BY: Steven Emerson

June 29, 2015 2:10 am

American Palestinian Group Has Strong Ties to Hamas

Federal investigators shut down a massive Hamas-support network in the United States between 2001 and 2008, prosecuting some elements and freezing the assets of others. But the Investigative...

June 25, 2015 10:38 am

The Federal Government Should be Investigating Al Jazeera America

Al Jazeera's run of bad publicity got a little worse this week, when the online Arabic newspaper New Khalij published an article citing part of a cable from the Saudi...

June 25, 2015 10:35 am

Islamist Groups Join Together to Lobby Congress

The U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), an umbrella group of "major national American Muslim organizations," was officially launched in March 2014. This coalition was purportedly formed to "serve as...

June 22, 2015 11:28 am

State Department Report Minimizes Palestinian Incitement to Violence

The U.S. State Department's Country Reports on Terrorism 2014 issued on Friday minimizes official Palestinian incitement to violence against Israel, and completely overlooks Palestinian glorification of terrorists. The...

June 18, 2015 12:38 pm

Would-Be Islamic State Terrorist Charged in New York

A 20-year-old Queens, New York, man is charged with planning an attack in the name of the Islamic State terrorist group (ISIS). Munther Omar Saleh was arrested last week,...

June 17, 2015 12:36 am

Indictment: Garland Cartoon Contest Shooters Had Help

An Arizona man has been indicted in connection with the May 3 attempted attack on a "Draw Muhammad" contest in Garland, Texas. Elton Francis Simpson and Nadir Hamid Soofi opened...

June 14, 2015 12:25 pm

Lawsuit: Al Jazeera America is Anti-Jewish, Anti-Women

Shannon High-Bassalik is not a journalist who buries the lead. In a Federal discrimination lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Thursday against her former employers at Al Jazeera America...

June 12, 2015 9:51 am

Turkish Official Blames Jews and ‘Crusaders’ for Election Losses

Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost a parliamentary majority it had enjoyed for 13 years in voting last Sunday. Voters had many reasons to back...

June 11, 2015 12:33 pm

Legal Experts: Israel Did Too Much to Warn Civilians During Gaza War

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) went too far past what is required to avoid civilian casualties in warfare, some international legal experts have said. This is according...

June 10, 2015 7:54 am

Rasmieh Odeh Says Israeli Courts Are like Nazi Germany

Attorneys for Rasmieh Odeh appealed her naturalization fraud conviction with the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday, saying pre-trial rulings allowed in questionable evidence and improperly prevented testimony...

June 7, 2015 9:36 am

A Liberal Democrat Just Called Two CAIR Officials ‘Insane’

The National Union of Students, a confederation of 600 student unions representing more than 95 percent of all higher education unions in the United Kingdom, passed...

June 5, 2015 11:08 am

Islamists Continue to Push the Wrong Questions in Boston Shooting

The campaign by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and other Islamists to cast Tuesday's shooting of terror suspect Usaama Rahim as unjustified continues, despite the...

June 4, 2015 12:31 pm

In Boston Shooting, Islamists Damn First and Ignore Facts Later

Virtually everything Islamist activists in the United States claimed about Tuesday's fatal shooting of terror suspect Usaama Rahim in Boston appears to have been debunked within 24...

May 27, 2015 10:29 am

CAIR Leader Says Hezbollah Are ‘Terrorists’ in Syria, But Not Israel

The head of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' (CAIR) Los Angeles office, Hussam Ayloush, continues to exhibit double standards when it comes to Israel's terrorist...