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Clifford May is president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a neoconservative advocacy group that emerged in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to push for an expansive "war on terror." A former journalist who has worked for several radio, print, and TV outlets—including the New York Times—May is a leading neoconservative ideologue who has been involved in several right-wing advocacy campaigns, many of which have foucsed on defending militarist Israeli policies (see, for instance, his defense of Israel after its deadly attack on a Gaza aid flotilla in late May 2010).

May’s FDD claims to be a “nonpartisan policy institute dedicated exclusively to promoting pluralism, defending democratic values, and fighting the ideologies that threaten democracy.”[1] FDD’s emergence coincided with the founding of other, similarly-oriented groups, including Americans for Victory over Terrorism, Family Security Matters, the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, the Coalition for Democracy in Iran, and the Committee on the Present Danger.

After the election of President Barack Obama, May’s writings, which often focus on pressing a hardline against Iran and championing an Israeli rightwing view of Middle East peace, focused on alternatively praising those policies that seemed to build on the “achievements” of the Bush administration’s “war on terror” while criticizing the Obama administration for being weak on national security and defending Israel.

In an editorial for Scripps Howard News Service published a few months after President Obama came into office, May commended Obama for “not abandoning what has been achieved—at great cost—in Iraq. He is increasing the U.S. commitment in Afghanistan. He appears to appreciate the high stakes in Pakistan. Now, as in the Bush administration, Generals David Petraeus and Ray Odierno are commanding American troops in battle under the leadership of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Also consistent with the previous administration, Obama has retained such anti-terrorism tools as military commissions (with cosmetic modifications), renditions (begun during the Clinton era), and, yes, indefinite detentions of captured enemy combatants.”[2]

However, by 2010, May’s honeymoon with the administration had come decisively to an end. In an April 2010 editorial, for example, he lambasted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for encouraging Israel to "continue building momentum toward a comprehensive peace” and respecting Palestinians' "legitimate aspirations.” Characterizing these statements as “cruel” toward Israel, May wrote that Clinton “has conducted Middle East diplomacy in a way that can be described, at best, as lacking coherence. At worst—borrowing a phrase from scholar Bernard Lewis—she is helping make America appear ‘harmless as an enemy and treacherous as a friend.’”[3]

May joined his a voice to a chorus of rightwing figures in criticizing the Obama administration’s efforts to reform U.S. nuclear strategic policies this spring, claiming that reductions to the nuclear arsenal established in the new START Treaty negotiated with Russia will be seen by terrorists as an opportunity to be exploited[4] (despite that fact that the treaty will allow the United States to maintain 1,550 deployed strategic warheads). May also erroneously declared that the new START Treaty “may limit our ability to deploy additional missile defense,” a view that despite its popualtiry on the right has been repeatedly dismissed by serious arms control specialists.[5]

May also contributed his name to a widely noted May 2010 Washington Times editorial that called for a “renewed adherence to the national security philosophy of President Ronald Reagan: ‘Peace Through Strength.’” Offering 10-point plan to protect America, the authors—who also included the Center for Security Policy’s Frank Gaffney and Reagan era figure Edwin Meese—argued that “freedom,” “America’s exceptional role,” and even the country’s very existence are at stake as a result of an astounding array of alleged threats facing the country. These threats included missile attacks, Shariah law, electromagnetic pulse weapons, Islamic terrorism, illegal aliens, and a weak military.[6]

Track Record

A veteran journalist, May has worked as a correspondent for the New York Times, a senior editor for Geo Magazine, and an associate editor for Newsweek. He writes a weekly column that is nationally distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, and he has contributed to the National Review Online, CNN's American Morning, and National Public Radio's Morning Edition, among other outlets. In the late 1990s, May edited Rising Tide, the official magazine of the Republican Party.

During George W. Bush’s second term, May served as a member of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's Advisory Committee on Democracy Promotion (ACPD).[7] May was appointed for a two-year stint beginning in 2006. Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky served as executive director of the committee. Other committee members include Carl Gershman and Vin Weber of the National Endowment for Democracy, Michael Novak of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and Jennifer Windsor of Freedom House.[8]

In September 2007, Media Matters criticized May for failing to disclose his government ties, and those of the FDD, during media appearances. "[May] has appeared in the media several times to defend the administration's conduct of the Iraq war,” the progressive media watchdog group published on their site. “However, in none of his columns or on-air appearances has May disclosed that FDD has received at least $1.2 million in State Department grants since 2004, or that May himself is a member of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's Advisory Committee on Democracy Promotion."[9]

May was also a member of the Iraq Study Group's Military and Security Working Group of Experts, which was formed in March 2006 (see U.S. Institute of Peace, "Iraq Study Group, Expert Working Groups”). As the Washington Post reported in December 2006: "A key recommendation of last week's Iraq Study Group report was that the Bush administration should reach out to Iran and Syria to improve the situation in Iraq. The White House has long rejected the notion, but nearly all of the 44 experts who worked on the report supported it. However, two conservative holdouts—Clifford May, a former Republican National Committee spokesman, and Reuel Marc Gerecht of the American Enterprise Institute—needed some extra convincing. In a series of e-mails, James Dobbins, a former diplomat and the chief architect of Afghan reconciliation (now at Rand Corp.) made his case. In the end, May was won over but Gerecht was not."[10]

In a September 2006 op-ed, May equated “Islamic fascists” with World War II-era fascists. Citing the work of Michael Ledeen, a scholar at AEI, May argued that "whereas the Nazis waged a war for German domination of Europe, [Ayatollah] Khomeini looked forward to a war that would spread Islamic rule throughout the Middle East and beyond." Quoting a 1942 Khomeini diatribe, in which the Iranian revolutionary claimed that "the sword is the key to paradise" and "Islam wants to conquer the whole world," May argued that "Khomeini's successors may soon have not just swords but also nuclear weapons to help them pursue their vision. Osama bin Laden's ambitions are the same though he dreams of Sunni rather than Shiite sheiks ordering infidels to convert or die." He also approvingly cited the opinions of conservative Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), who, according to May, recognized that "Islamic fascism" is the "ideological heir to the enemy America confronted in World War II—and is at least as serious a threat.”[11]

Advocacy Affiliations

May's Foundation for Defense of Democracies was founded two days after  September 11, 2001, by, as the FDD puts it, "a group of visionary philanthropists and policymakers to engage in the worldwide war of ideas and to support the defense of democratic societies under assault by terrorism and militant Islamism." The FDD is best known for its frequent media interviews and news analysis by Clifford May, who before joining the FDD was director of communications (1997 to 2001) for the Republican National Committee. May's corporate connections included working as the senior managing director of Weber Shandwick, which describes itself as "one of the world's leading public relations and communications management firms."[12]

May has also served as vice-chair of the Republican Jewish Coalition, and he was a signatory of various statements published by the Project for the New American Century (PNAC). May serves as chairman of the Policy Committee of the Committee on the Present Danger (CPD), which the FDD describes as a "non-partisan organization that seeks to stiffen U.S. resolve to confront and defeat the ideologies that drive terrorism."[13] CPD was revived by the FDD and a plank of hardline Democrats and Republicans in 2004. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) serve as CPD's honorary co-chairmen. George Shultz and James Woolsey are the co-chairs of CPD's six-member board of directors.

May was one of several rightwing voices to sign on to a September 2007 declaration sponsored by the Forgotten American Coalition condemning the idea of withdrawal from Iraq. The coalition, spearheaded by Gary Bauer, was a letterhead organization that also hyped the threat from Iran and Syria. In July 2007, May was a panelist at the Washington, DC summit of Christians United for Israel, a gathering that he described as focusing on Israeli security and "Islamic imperialists and supremacists.”[14]

May has been associated with the Henry Jackson Society, a conservative group launched in Cambridge, England, in March 2005. The society was founded, in its own words, on the idea that "liberal democracy should be spread across the world; that as the world's most powerful democracies, the United States and the European Union—under British leadership—must shape the world more actively by intervention and example; that such leadership requires political will, a commitment to universal human rights, and the maintenance of a strong military with global expeditionary reach; and that too few of our leaders in Britain and the rest of Europe today are ready to play a role in the world that matches our strength and responsibilities."[15] Included among the think tank's international patrons are May and other neoconservative luminaries like Bruce Jackson, Robert Kagan, William Kristol, Richard Perle, Joshua Muravchik, and Woolsey.

May's FDD is packed with "insiders" such as Jack Kemp, Newt Gingrich, Woolsey, Gaffney, Kristol, and Perle. An indication of the FDD's emergence as a major player in the think-tank world occurred on March 13, 2006, when President George W. Bush delivered a speech on the "Global War on Terrorism" at an FDD-sponsored event. Bush's choice of the FDD as a forum was regarded by many observers as a sign that the administration remained firmly under the thrall of neoconservative-inspired foreign policy, despite worsening problems in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Bush's FDD speech highlighted not only the new prominence of the FDD, but also of Clifford May. May, who introduced the president, framed the administration's war on terrorism in Cold War terms and also incorporated the FDD's democracy vs. terrorism theme in his opening remarks: "From the moment he stood on the rubble of the World Trade Center, President Bush has demonstrated that he understands the nature of the threat facing our country and the entire Free World," said May. "We stand behind the president in his commitment, his determination to defend freedom and defeat the enemies of democratic societies."[16]

The president commended FDD's work during his speech: "The foundation is making a difference across the world, and I appreciate the difference you're making. You have trained Iraqi women and Iranian students in the principles and practice of democracy, you've translated 'democracy readers' into Arabic for distribution across the broader Middle East, you've helped activists across the region organize effective political movements—so they can help bring about democratic change and ensure the survival of liberty in new democracies. By promoting democratic ideals, and training a new generation of democratic leaders in the Middle East, you are helping us to bring victory in the war on terror—and I thank you for your hard work in freedom's cause."[17]

Please note: IPS Right Web neither represents nor endorses any of the individuals or groups profiled on this site.