Steve Emerson - Biography
Steven Emerson, who is considered one of the leading authorities on Islamic extremist networks, financing, and operations, is executive director of The Investigative Project on Terrorism.
The nonprofit organization is 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-Qaida, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic jihad, and the rest of the worldwide Islamic militant spectrum.
The Investigative Project on Terrorism's
Web site, which was started in September 2007, is considered one of the top counterterrorism Web sites in the world.
Emerson, who is the author or co-author of six books on terrorism and national security, 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. The film earned Emerson numerous awards including the George Polk Award for best television documentary. He also received the top prize from the Investigative Reporters and Editors Organization for best investigative report in both print and television for the documentary.
Emerson has a bachelor's and a master's from Brown University.
Before starting the Investigative Project on Terrorism, Emerson was a correspondent for CNN and a senior editor at U.S. News and World Report. His first job in Washington, D.C., was as a staff researcher for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1977.