Frank Gaffney

Frank J. Gaffney Jr.
Frank Gaffney pictured in 2013
Born	(1953-04-05) April 5, 1953
Residence	United States
Citizenship	United States
Alma mater	B.A., Georgetown University M.A., Johns Hopkins University
Occupation	President of Center for Security Policy
Organization	Center for Security Policy
Known for	conspiracy theories
Salary	$309,000 (2012)[1][2]
Parent(s)	Frank J. Gaffney, Sr. and Virginia Gaffney (née Reed)
Awards	Louis Brandeis Award (Zionist Organization of America)[3]

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. (born April 5, 1953) is an American political commentator and a proponent of conspiracy theories.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]} He is the founder and president of the Center for Security Policy, a group that has been described as an "extremist think tank" by The Hill.^[12]

Early life

Gaffney was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1953 to Virginia Gaffney (née Reed). His father, Frank J. Gaffney, was a classical music aficionado and long-time partner at the law firm of Thorp, Reed & Armstrong (merged in 2013 with Clark Hill PLC), which was founded by his wife's father, Earl Reed.^[13][14] Frank J. Gaffney Sr.'s father, Joseph Gaffney, was a city solicitor of Philadelphia who became an object of controversy in early 20th century Philadelphia due to his Catholic faith; nativist Protestant groups in the city alleged Catholics were conspiring to seize control of American institutions and rewrite American history.^[13][15]

In 1975, Gaffney graduated from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University.^[16] He received his graduate degree from Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.^[17]

Career

Gaffney began his government career in the 1970s, working as an aide in the office of Democratic Senator Henry M. Jackson, under Richard Perle. From August 1983 until November 1987, Gaffney held the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control Policy in the Reagan Administration, again serving under Perle.^[18]

In April 1987, Gaffney was nominated to the position of Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. He served as the acting Assistant Secretary for seven months. During this time, despite his official post, he was notably excluded by senior Reagan administration officials from the then-ongoing arms control talks with the Soviet Union. Gaffney was ultimately forced out of the Pentagon; the Washington Post at the time noted that within four days of Frank Carlucci's appointment as Secretary of Defense, "Gaffney's belongings were boxed and he was gone."^[19][20] Following his departure from government, he immediately set about criticizing Ronald Reagan's pursuit of an arms control agreement with the USSR.^[19]

Gaffney contributes to the media site Newsmax, writing opinion pieces on topics such as politics, terrorism, and international affairs in a column titled "Security Watch."^[21] He also hosts a podcast called Secure Freedom Radio. Featured guests have included Newt Gingrich, John Bolton, Donald Rumsfeld and many current and former policymakers and elected officials.

The Southern Poverty Law Center describes Gaffney as "one of America’s most notorious Islamophobes".^[22] Gaffney has been associated with David Yerushalmi for being responsible in spreading misinformation about Islam and for encouraging the enactment of anti-Muslim laws, including anti-Sharia legislation in the United States.^[23]

Center for Security Policy

In 1988, Gaffney established the Center for Security Policy (CSP), a Washington, D.C.-based pro-Israel advocacy group, and national security think tank that has been widely accused of engaging in conspiracy theorizing by a range of individuals, media outlets and organizations. Its activities are focused on exposing and researching perceived jihadist threats to the United States. The Center has been described as "not very highly respected" by BBC News and "disreputable" by Salon. It has faced strong criticism from people across the political spectrum, but has also had its reports cited by political figures such as Donald Trump and Michele Bachmann.^[24][25][26] In 2012 he was banned from attending the Conservative Political Action Conference after its organizers said he was a "crazy bigot."^[27]

Conspiracy theories

Gaffney has asserted that the logo of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency is a coded signal showing the "official U.S. submission to Islam."

According to the SPLC, Gaffney's beliefs stem from the discredited 1991 testimony of a lone Muslim Brotherhood member that he has come to believe is a "smoking gun, a mission statement pointing to a massive Islamist conspiracy under our noses."^[28]

David Keene of the American Conservative Union has contended that Gaffney "has become personally and tiresomely obsessed with his weird belief that anyone who doesn't agree with him on everything all the time or treat him with the respect and deference he believes is his due, must be either ignorant of the dangers we face or, in extreme case, dupes of the nation's enemies."^[29]

Gaffney has been called a conspiracy theorist by Dave Weigel writing in Reason magazine; the Bridge Initiative of Georgetown University's Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim–Christian Understanding; Steve Benen of MSNBC; Slate; and The Intercept, among others.^{[30][31][32][33][34]}

Conspiracy theories Gaffney has promoted include:

• The belief that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the Oklahoma City bombing.^[35]
• Accusations that Republican Party strategist Grover Norquist is a secret agent of the Muslim Brotherhood. In 2014, Gaffney claimed that Norquist had "been working with the enemy for over a decade."^[36] (Responding to the accusation, the board of directors of the American Conservative Union unanimously condemned Gaffney's charges as "reprehensible" and "unfounded."^[37] The organization also banned Gaffney from its Conservative Political Action Conference.^[29])
• Accusations that Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin is a secret agent of the Muslim Brotherhood.^[38] (After the allegation was repeated by Michele Bachmann, U.S. senators John McCain, Scott Brown, and Marco Rubio joined in dismissing it, and Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John Boehner said "accusations like this being thrown around are pretty dangerous."^[39])
• The belief that Barack Obama is not a "natural born citizen of the United States" (popularly known as the "birther conspiracy").^[40]
• The belief that the logo of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency is a coded indicator of "official U.S. submission to Islam" because it "appears ominously to reflect a morphing of the Islamic crescent and star".^[41]
• The belief that the responsibility-to-protect norm has been supported by the United States government to lay the groundwork for a forthcoming American military invasion of Israel.^[42]

Personal life

Gaffney has donated money to a number of Republican political candidates including Allen West, Chris Myers, and Jon Kyl.^[43]

Gaffney has two sisters, Rachel Gaffney and Devon Cross (née Gaffney).^[14] Devon Cross has been described by American Conservative Magazine as "a veteran neoconservative operative" whose organization, Secure America Now, has run pro-Israel advertisements in the United States featuring Benjamin Netanyahu, among other activities.^[44] Cross, who is married to former New York Jets president Jay Cross, served on the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee during the administration of George W. Bush and is currently a board member of American Corporate Partners.^[13][45]

Bibliography

• War Footing (Naval Institute Press, 2005) ISBN 978-1591143017^[46]
• Shariah: The Threat to America (Center for Security Policy, 2010) ISBN 978-0982294765

See also

• Jon Ritzheimer
• Pamela Geller

References

External links

• Appearances on C-SPAN