Michael B. Kraft, a Washington based counterterrorism consultant writer, is a former senior advisor in the U.S. Department of State Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, where he specialized in counterterrorism legislative issues, programs, and budgets. He also served as an adjunct faculty member for counterterrorism issues at the National Defense University Africa Center for Strategic Studies. During his 19 years at the State Department Counterterrorism office, he worked closely with the Justice Department in drafting and enacting counterterrorism legislation, including the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. He initiated the Act’s provisions designating Foreign Terrorist Organizations and criminalizing the provision of material support for such groups or for specific acts of terrorism. These provisions have been successfully utilized in numerous court cases. His involvement in economic sanctions dates back to 1979 when he drafted the provisions of the Export Administration Act that Congress enacted to authorize the Secretary of State to designated terrorist supporting states, and invoke a series of sanctions. At the time he was foreign policy legislative assistant to the late Rep. Millicent Fenwick who led the successful effort to enact the legislation.

While at the State Department, Mr. Kraft worked closely with the Bureau of Diplomatic Security to expand the Antiterrorism Training Assistance program which helps the law enforcement officials of friendly governments. After the 1998 terrorist attacks in East Africa, he initiated and helped develop the Terrorist Interdiction Program, a sophisticated data base system to help other countries identify potential terrorists or drug traffickers trying to enter their countries. He also conceived of and led a series of seminars that the State Department and Justice Department held in 2002 and 2003 to assist 52 countries strengthen their counterterrorism laws.

Since retirement from the Department of State in May, 2004, Mr. Kraft has conducted similar seminars for officials from East African countries. He is a consultant and co-editor of a forthcoming book The Evolution of U. Counterterrorism Policy for Praeger Press. Additionally, he contributed a chapter on USG counterterrorism research and development programs for Countering Terrorism and Insurgency in the 2st Century, also for Praeger Press (2007) and wrote on counterterrorism legal issues for the McGraw Hill Homeland Security Handbook (2005). He also has been a guest lecturer at American and George Washington Universities, Catholic University and the Marine Corps Academy. Before joining the State Department in 1985, Mr. Kraft was staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East and served as national Security legislative Assistant to the late Senator Clifford P. Case of New Jersey. Earlier, he was chief Congressional Correspondent for the Reuters News Agency. He previously worked for United Press International in Michigan, Washington, London, and Central Africa.

You can e-mail Mr. Kraft at mbkraft@erols.com.