Ross speaking at Emory University.

Dennis B. Ross (born November 26, 1948) is an American diplomat and author. He has served as the Director of Policy Planning in the State Department under President George H. W. Bush, the special Middle East coordinator under President Bill Clinton, and was a special adviser for the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia (which includes Iran) to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.^[1]

Biography[link]

Ross was born in San Francisco and grew up in Marin County. His Jewish mother and Catholic stepfather raised him in a non-religious atmosphere.^[2] Ross graduated from University of California, Los Angeles in 1970 and did graduate work there, writing his doctoral dissertation on Soviet decision-making.^[3] He later became religiously Jewish after the Six Day War.^[2] In 2002 he co-founded the Kol Shalom synagogue in Rockville, Maryland.^[2]

During President Jimmy Carter's administration, Ross worked under Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz in the Pentagon. There, he co-authored a study recommending greater U.S. intervention in "the Persian Gulf Region because of our need for Persian Gulf oil and because events in the Persian Gulf affect the Arab-Israeli conflict."^[4] During the Reagan administration, Ross served as director of Near East and South Asian affairs in the National Security Council and Deputy Director of the Pentagon's Office of Net Assessment (1982–84).^[3]

Ross returned briefly to academia in the 1980s, serving as executive director of the Berkeley-Stanford program on Soviet International Behavior from 1984-1986.^[3] In the mid-1980s Ross co-founded with Martin Indyk the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)-sponsored Washington Institute for Near East Policy ("WINEP").^[5] His first WINEP paper called for appointment of a "non-Arabist Special Middle East envoy" who would "not feel guilty about our relationship with Israel."^[6]

In the administration of President George H. W. Bush, Ross was director of the United States State Department's Policy Planning Staff, working on U.S. policy toward the former Soviet Union, the reunification of Germany and its integration into NATO, arms control, and the 1991 Gulf War.^[3] He also worked with Secretary of State James Baker on convincing Arab and Israeli leaders to attend the 1991 Middle East peace conference in Madrid, Spain.^[2]

Middle East Envoy[link]

Ross (right) with Ehud Barak in 1999.

In the summer of 1993 President Bill Clinton named Ross Middle East envoy. He helped the Israelis and Palestinians reach the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and brokered the Protocol Concerning the Redeployment in Hebron in 1997. He facilitated the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace and also worked on talks between Israel and Syria.^[3]

Ross was criticized by people on both sides of the conflict. Occasional references to his Jewish ancestry were brought up within the Arab world (although Ross maintains this was not a problem with other heads of state during negotiations), and some conservative Israelis branded him "self-hating" — each questioning his ability to be unbiased.^[7][8] Describing Ross, Roger Cohen wrote that “Balance is something this meticulous diplomat [Ross] prizes. But a recurrent issue with Ross, who embraced the Jewish faith after being raised in a nonreligious home by a Jewish mother and Catholic stepfather, has been whether he is too close to the American Jewish community and Israel to be an honest broker with Iran or Arabs. Aaron David Miller, after years of working with Ross, concluded in a book that he “had an inherent tendency to see the world of Arab-Israeli politics first from Israel’s vantage point rather than that of the Palestinians.” Another former senior State Department official, who requested anonymity … told me, “Ross’s bad habit is preconsultation with the Israelis.”^[9]

In their 2006 paper The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, John Mearsheimer, political science professor at the University of Chicago, and Stephen Walt, academic dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, named Ross as a member of the "Israeli lobby" in the United States.^[10] Ross in turn criticized the academics behind the paper.^[10] In 2008, Time reported that a former colleague of Ross, former ambassador Daniel Kurtzer published a think-tank monograph containing anonymous complaints from Arab and American negotiators saying Ross was seen as biased towards Israel and not "an honest broker".^[11]

Ross's memoir of his experiences, The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace tells his side of the story and outlines the key lessons to be drawn.^[12][13] His 2007 book, Statecraft: And How to Restore America's Standing in the World, criticizes the administration of President George W. Bush for its failure to use the tools of statecraft to advance U.S. national interests. He advocates instead for a neoliberal foreign policy which relies on a much broader and more effective use of statecraft.^[14] While having worked under both Republican and Democratic administrations, Ross himself is a Democrat.^[15]

Post-Clinton-era activities[link]

After leaving his position as envoy, Ross returned to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy as counselor and Ziegler distinguished fellow. He became chair of the Jerusalem-based think tank, the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, funded and founded by the Jewish Agency in 2002.^[16]

During these years he taught classes at Marquette University, Brandeis University, Georgetown University and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University."^[2] He also wrote frequently for publications like The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Jerusalem Post, The New Republic, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal and worked as a foreign affairs analyst for the Fox News channel.^[17]

Ross was a noted supporter of the Iraq war and he signed two Project for a New American Century (PNAC) letters in support of the war in March 2003.^[18] However, he opposed some of the Bush Administration's policies for post-war reconstruction.^[11] He also opposed Bush's policy of avoiding direct talks with Iran.^[2]

According to Wall Street Journal, Ross, along with James Steinberg and Daniel Kurtzer, were among the principal authors of presidential candidate Barack Obama’s address on the Middle East to AIPAC in June 2008.^[19] It was viewed as the Democratic nominee’s most expansive on international affairs.^[20]

Obama Administration positions[link]

Ross was appointed Special Advisor for the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on February 23, 2009.^[21] On June 25, 2009 the White House announced that Ross was leaving the State Department to join the National Security Council staff as a Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for the Central Region, with overall responsibility for the region. The Central Region includes the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, Pakistan and South Asia.^[22]

Haaretz reported that Ross's work as a Middle East aide in the Obama administration was burdened by tension with special envoy George Mitchell, to the point that Ross and Mitchell sometimes refused to speak to one another. This report indicated that the tension was caused, at least in part, by Ross' occasional efforts to conduct negotiations with Israeli government officials without notifying Mitchell. For example, in both September and November 2010, Ross was said to have tried to persuade Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to freeze settlement construction during negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, in exchange for unspecified private assurances and a major military arms transfer from the United States.^[23]

Palestinian officials reportedly viewed Ross as beholden to the Israeli government, and not as an honest broker or even-handed facilitator of negotiations. For a significant period, Ross refrained from meeting Palestinian Authority officials, while continuing to hold talks with Israeli officials during his visits to the region.^[23]

On November 10, 2011, Ross stepped down from his post in the Obama administration.^[24]

Controversies[link]

For background, see Positions on Jerusalem

Ross states in his book The Missing Peace that he and other American negotiators pushed Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to accept Palestinian sovereignty over Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem during the Middle East Peace Summit at Camp David.^[25] Ross wrote part of Barack Obama's speech to AIPAC during the 2008 Presidential campaign, and the speech stated that "Jerusalem is Israel's capital" and that it should not be divided again. The Jerusalem Post reported in November 2008 that, according to Ross, these were "facts." However, Ross stated that the "third point," which is the position of the United States since the Camp David Accords, is that the final status of the city will be resolved by negotiations.^[26]

Bibliography[link]

• Acting with Caution: Middle East Policy Planning for the Second Reagan Administration. Policy Papers #1. Washington Institute for Near East Policy. 1985. http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC04.php?CID=100. 
• Reforming the Palestinian Authority: Requirements for Change. Policy Focus #43. Washington Institute for Near East Policy. August 2002. http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC04.php?CID=102. 
• The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. August 2004. ISBN 0-374-19973-6. 
• Foreword for: Levitt, Matthew (May 1, 2006). Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-11053-7. 
• Statecraft: And How to Restore America's Standing in the World. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. June 2007. ISBN 0-374-29928-5. 
• Myths, Illusions, and Peace: Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East, with David Makovsky, Viking, 2009, ISBN 0-670-02089-3 ISBN 978-0670020898.

See also[link]

• Obama Administration
• Israel – United States relations
• Nuclear program of Iran

References[link]

External links[link]

• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Dennis Ross on Charlie Rose
• Dennis Ross at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Dennis Ross in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Dennis Ross collected news and commentary at Al Jazeera English
• Dennis Ross collected news and commentary at Bloomberg News
• Dennis Ross collected news and commentary at The Jerusalem Post
• Dennis Ross collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Living the Peace Process, Interviewed by the Middle East Quarterly June 1996
• The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace, interviewed by Thomas Friedman, Council on Foreign Relations September 13, 2004 (video)
• Council on Foreign Relations Panel Discussion: America and the World: Challenges Facing the Next Administration--Remarks by Ambassador Dennis Ross, October 13, 2004
• Questions for Dennis Ross: Handling Hamas, interviewed by Deborah Solomon, The New York Times February 5, 2006
• Problem Countries: Syria, Iran and Russia stir up trouble, interviewed by Paul Gigot, The Wall Street Journal December 4, 2006
• Dennis Ross discusses Statecraft at the Commonwealth Club of California, July 2, 2007
• Dennis Ross: Myths, Illusions and Peace, The Economist, May 28, 2009

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (April 2009)

Elliott Abrams
Deputy National Security Advisor for Global Democracy Strategy
In office February 2, 2005[1] – January 2009
President	George W. Bush
National Security Council Senior Director for Near East and North African Affairs
In office December 2, 2002[2] – February 1, 2005
President	George W. Bush
National Security Council Senior Director for Democracy, Human Rights, and International Operations
In office June 25, 2001 [3] – December 1, 2002
President	George W. Bush
Succeeded by	Anthony Banbury (acting director)[4]
Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs
In office July 17, 1985 – January 20, 1989
President	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Langhorne A. Motley
Succeeded by	Bernard William Aronson
Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs
In office December 12, 1981 – July 17, 1985
President	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Patricia M. Derian
Succeeded by	Richard Schifter
Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations
In office May 7, 1981[5] – December 1, 1981
President	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Richard Lee McCall, Jr
Succeeded by	Gregory J. Newell
Personal details
Born	(1948-01-24) January 24, 1948 (age 64) New York City
Nationality	American
Spouse(s)	Rachel Decter
Relations	Norman Podhoretz Midge Decter
Children	Three
Alma mater	Harvard, B.A. London School of Economics, M.Sc. Harvard Law School, J.D.
Occupation	Lawyer
Religion	Judaism

Elliott Abrams (born January 24, 1948) is an American attorney and conservative policy analyst who served in foreign policy positions for two Republican U.S. Presidents, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. While serving for Reagan and in the State Department, Abrams, Paul Wolfowitz, and retired U.S. Marine Corps officer Oliver North were integral players in the Iran-Contra affair. Abrams held many roles within the affair, some official and unofficial. This included working with CIA operations that got the U.S. onboard with the illegal shipment of arms and supplies.^[6] He is currently a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.^[7] Additionally, Abrams holds positions on the Committee for Peace and Security in the Gulf (CPSG), Center for Security Policy & National Secretary Advisory Council, Committee for a Free Lebanon, and the Project for the New American Century.^[8] He also was the president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington in 1996. Abrams is a current member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. He teaches foreign policy at Georgetown University with a blog called “Pressure Points” that is about the U.S. foreign policy and human rights.^[6]

During the Reagan administration, Abrams gained notoriety for his involvement in controversial foreign policy decisions regarding Nicaragua and El Salvador. During Bush's first term, he served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director on the National Security Council for Near East and North African Affairs. At the start of Bush's second term, Abrams was promoted to be his Deputy National Security Advisor for Global Democracy Strategy, in charge of promoting Bush's strategy of advancing democracy abroad. His appointment by Bush was controversial due to his conviction in 1991 on two misdemeanor counts of unlawfully withholding information from Congress during the Iran-Contra Affair investigation.

Early years[link]

Abrams was born into a Jewish family in New York. His father was an immigration lawyer. He attended Harvard College in the late 1960s and was a roommate of Steven Kelman, founder of the Young People's Socialist League campus chapter. Together they penned an article on the 1969 Harvard strike for The New Leader, “The Contented Revolutionists.”.^[9] Abrams received his bachelor of arts from Harvard College in 1969, a master’s degree in international relations from the London School of Economics in 1970, and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1973.

He practiced law in New York in the summers for his father, and then at Breed, Abbott and Morgan from 1973 to 1975 and with Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard and McPherson from 1979 to 1981.

Abrams worked as an assistant counsel on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in 1975, then worked as a staffer on Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson’s brief campaign for the 1976 Democratic Party presidential nomination. From 1977 through 1979, he served as special counsel and ultimately as chief of staff for the then-new senator Daniel Moynihan.

Through Senator Moynihan, Abrams was introduced to Rachel Decter, the stepdaughter of Moynihan’s friend Norman Podhoretz, editor of Commentary. They were married in 1980. The couple has three children: Jacob, Sarah, and Joseph.^[10]

Assistant Secretary of State, 1980s[link]

Abrams first came to national prominence when he served as Reagan's Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs in the early 1980s and later as Assistant Secretary for Inter-American Affairs. His nomination to Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs was unanimously approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on November 17, 1981.^[11] Abrams was Reagan's second choice for the position; his first nominee, Ernest W. Lefever, had been rejected by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 5, 1981.^[11]

During this time, Abrams clashed regularly with church groups and human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch.^[12][13] and Amnesty International, over the Reagan administration's foreign policies. They accused him of covering up atrocities committed by the military forces of US-backed governments, such as those in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, and the rebel Contras in Nicaragua.

El Salvador[link]

In early 1982, when reports of the El Mozote massacre of civilians by the military in El Salvador began appearing in U.S. media, Abrams told a Senate committee that the reports of hundreds of deaths at El Mozote "were not credible," and that "it appears to be an incident that is at least being significantly misused, at the very best, by the guerrillas."^[14] The massacre had come at a time when the Reagan administration was attempting to bolster the human rights image of the Salvadoran military. Abrams implied that reports of a massacre were simply FMLN propaganda and denounced U.S. investigative reports of the massacre as misleading. In March 1993, the Salvadoran Truth Commission reported that 5,000 civilians were “deliberately and systematically” executed in El Mozote in December 1981 by forces affiliated with the Salvadoran state.^[15] Also in 1993, documentation emerged suggesting that some Reagan administration officials could have known about El Mozote and other human rights violations from the beginning.^[16] However, in July 1993, an investigation commissioned by Clinton secretary of state Warren Christopher into the State department’s "activities and conduct" with regard to human rights in El Salvador during the Reagan years found that, despite the department's mistakes handling El Mozote, its personnel “performed creditably and occasionally with personal bravery in advancing human rights in El Salvador.”^[17] Abrams himself claimed that Washington’s policy in El Salvador was a ”fabulous achievement.”^[18]

Nicaragua[link]

When Congress shut down funding for the Contras' efforts to overthrow Nicaragua's Sandinista government with the 1982 Boland Amendment, members of the Reagan administration began looking for other avenues for funding the group.^[19] Congress opened a couple of such avenues when it modified the Boland Amendment for fiscal year 1986 by approving $27 million in direct aid to the Contras and allowing the administration to legally solicit funds for the Contras from foreign governments.^[20] Neither the direct aid, nor any foreign contributions, could be used to purchase weapons.^[20] Guided by the new provisions of the modified Boland Amendment, Abrams flew to London in August 1986 and met secretly with Bruneian defense minister General Ibnu to solicit a $10-million contribution from the Sultan of Brunei.^[21][22] Ultimately, the Contras never received this money because a clerical error in Oliver North's office (a mistyped account number) sent the Bruneian money to the wrong Swiss bank account.^[22]

Iran-Contra affair[link]

During investigation of the Iran-Contra Affair, Lawrence Walsh, the Independent Counsel tasked with investigating the case, prepared multiple felony counts against Abrams but never indicted him.^[22] Instead, Abrams entered into a plea agreement with Walsh. Abrams pled guilty to two misdemeanors of withholding information from Congress.^[23] He was sentenced to a $50 fine, probation for two years, and 100 hours of community service. However, Abrams was pardoned by President George H. W. Bush, in December 1992 (as he was leaving office following his loss in that year in the U.S. presidential election). On February 5, 1997, the D.C. Court of Appeals publicly censured Abrams for giving false testimony on three occasions before congressional committees. Although a majority of the court voted to impose a public censure, three judges in the majority would have imposed a suspension of six months, and a fourth judge would have followed the recommendation of the Board on Professional Responsibility that Abrams be suspended for a year.

Special Assistant to President Bush[link]

President George W. Bush appointed Abrams to the post of special assistant to the president and senior director for democracy, human rights, and international operations at the National Security Council on June 25, 2001.^[24] Abrams was appointed special assistant to the President and the NSC’s senior director for Near East and North African Affairs on December 2, 2002.^[25] Some human rights groups and commentators considered his White House appointment controversial due to his conviction in the Iran-Contra Affair investigation and his role in overseeing the Reagan administration’s foreign policy in Latin America.^[26][27]

2002 Venezuelan coup[link]

The Observer has claimed that Abrams had advance knowledge of, and "gave a nod to," the Venezuelan coup attempt of 2002 against Hugo Chávez.^[28] However, a review by the State Department’s inspector general made the following conclusion: “Our government’s opposition to the use of undemocratic or unconstitutional means to remove President Chávez was repeated over and over again during the relevant period by key policymakers and spokespersons in Washington and by our representatives in Caracas in both public and private forums. And, far from working to foment his overthrow, the United States alerted President Chávez to coup plots and warned him of an assassination threat that was deemed to be credible.”^[29] Yet the U.S. government gave tacit approval to the coup initially, refusing to condemn the coup until after the president installed by the coup had already been forced to resign by the people.^[30]

Advisor for Global Democracy Strategy[link]

On February 2, 2005, President George W. Bush appointed Abrams deputy national security adviser for Global Democracy Strategy.^[31] In his new position, Abrams became responsible for overseeing the National Security Council’s directorate of Democracy, Human Rights, and International Organization Affairs and its directorate of Near East and North African Affairs.^[31]

Abrams accompanied Condoleezza Rice as a primary adviser on her visits to the Middle East in late July 2006 in the course of discussions relating to the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.^[32] Abrams role in the conflict between Fatah and Hamas and the push to overthrow the elected Hamas government is very well documented in Vanity Fair http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/04/gaza200804

Affiliation history[link]

Institutional affiliations[link]

• American Committee for Peace in Chechnya: Member
• NGO Monitor: member of the International Advisory Board^[33]
• American Jewish Committee: Former member, National Advisory Council
• Center for Security Policy: Former member, National Security Advisory Council
• Committee for the Free World: Member of 1985 conference on Reagan-Gorbachev summit meeting in Geneva
• Committee for Peace and Security in the Gulf: Former Member (1998)
• Committee on U.S. Interests in the Middle East: Former Member
• Council on Foreign Relations: Member
• Ethics and Public Policy Center: President, 1996–2002
• Heritage Foundation: Alumnus of Heritage Foundation Resource Bank
• Francisco Marroquin Foundation: Former chairman
• Hudson Institute: Senior Fellow, 1990–96

• Independent Task Force on Colombia: Former member
• Middle East Forum: Signatory of 2000 report urging military action against Syria
• Nicaraguan Resistance Foundation: Former chairman
• Project for the New American Century: Signatory of 1997 Statement of Principles and various other statements
• U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom: Former member

Editorial affiliations[link]

• National Review: Former contributing author
• Policy Review: Former contributing author
• Beliefnet: Columnist

Public service[link]

• U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom: Chairman, 2000–2001; Commissioner, 1999–2001
• Inter-American Foundation: nominated as member of Board of Directors for the 1985–90 term

Books[link]

Government[link]

• Democracy How Direct?: Views from the Founding Era and the Polling Era. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.. 2002. pp. 144. ISBN 0-7425-2318-7. 
• Abrams, Elliott and Johnson, James Turner, ed. (June 1998). Close Calls: Intervention, Terrorism, Missile Defense, and "Just War" Today. Ethics and Public Policy Center. pp. 389. ISBN 0-89633-187-3. 
• Abrams, Elliott and Kagan, Donald, ed. (April 1998). Honor Among Nations: Intangible Interests and Foreign Policy. Ethics & Public Policy Center. pp. 112. ISBN 0-89633-188-1. 
• Security and Sacrifice: Isolation, Intervention, and American Foreign Policy. Hudson Institute. January 1995. pp. 152. ISBN 1-55813-049-7. 
• Shield and Sword: Neutrality and Engagement in American Foreign Policy. The Free Press. 1995. pp. 256. ISBN 0-02-900165-X. 
• Undue Process A Story of How Political Differences are Turned into Crimes. Free Press. October 1992. pp. 320. ISBN 0-02-900167-6. 

Religion[link]

• The Influence of Faith. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 2001. pp. 256. ISBN 0-7425-0762-9. 
• Abrams, Elliott, ed. (June 2004). International Religious Freedom (2001): Annual Report: Submitted by the U.S. Department of State. Diane Pub Co. pp. 210. ISBN 0-7567-1338-2. 
• Abrams, Elliott and Dalin, David, ed. (February 1999). Secularism, Spirituality, and the Future of American Jewry. Ethics & Public Policy Center. ISBN 0-89633-190-3. 
• Faith or Fear: How Jews Can Survive in a Christian America. Free Press. June 1997. pp. 256. ISBN 0-684-82511-2. 

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Crowley, Michael (February 17, 2005). "Elliott AbramsFrom Iran-Contra to Bush's Democracy Czar". Slate Magazine. http://www.slate.com/id/2113690/. 
• Hirsh, Michael; Ephron, Dan (December 4, 2006). "The Last Man Standing". Newsweek. Archived from the original on November 28, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20061128161755/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15896208/site/newsweek/. 
• Alterman, Eric (May 2007). "Elliott Abrams: The Teflon Assistant Secretary". Washington Monthly. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_v19/ai_4973377/. 
• Barnes, Fred (December 16, 2002). "Mr Rice Guy: The significance of Elliott Abrams's new job". The Weekly Standard. http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/998zbrfl.asp. 
• "Profile of Elliott Abrams". Center for Grassroots Oversight. 2009. http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/entity.jsp?entity=elliott_abrams. 
• "Profile of Elliott Abrams". Notable Names Database. 2009. http://www.nndb.com/people/326/000024254/. 
• "National Security Council homepage". George W. Bush White House. January 19, 2009. http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/nsc/. 
• "Profile of Columnist Elliott Abrams". Belief.Net. 2009. http://www.beliefnet.com/Columnists/a-j/Elliott-Abrams.aspx. 
• Lobe, Jim (December 6, 2002). "Neoconservatives Consolidate Control over U.S. Mideast Policy". Foreign Policy In Focus. http://www.fpif.org/commentary/2002/0212abrams.html. 
• [[Terry Allen^{[disambiguation needed ]} |Allen, Terry J.]] (August 6, 2001). "Public Serpent Iran-contra villain Elliott Abrams is back in action". In These Times. http://www.inthesetimes.com/issue/25/18/allen2518.html. 
• Rose, Charlie (March 31, 1998). "A Nuremberg Trial for the US Government". Transcript of interview with Elliott Abrams and Allan Nairn. Charlie Rose Show. http://web.mit.edu/thistle/www/v9/9.06/8nuremberg.html. 

Trey Gowdy
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina's 4th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2011
Preceded by	Bob Inglis
Solicitor for South Carolina's 7th Judicial Circuit
In office 2000–2011
Succeeded by	Holman Gossett
Personal details
Born	Harold Watson Gowdy III (1964-08-22) August 22, 1964 (age 47) Greenville, South Carolina
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Terri Dillard Gowdy
Children	Watson and Abigail
Residence	Spartanburg, South Carolina
Alma mater	Baylor University University of South Carolina School of Law
Profession	Attorney
Religion	Baptist
Website	treygowdy.com

Harold Watson "Trey" Gowdy III (born August 22, 1964) is the U.S. Representative for South Carolina's 4th congressional district. He is a member of the Republican Party. Before his election to Congress, he was the solicitor (district attorney) for the state's Seventh Judicial Circuit, comprising Spartanburg and Cherokee counties.