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Dr. Steven J. Allen


Dr. Steven J. Allen (JD, PhD)
Writer, editor, press secretary, policy analyst

[email protected] ● 202-248-6210 ● cell 703-304-3820

Summary of communications and media experience

  • Newspaper reporter and columnist
  • Radio news director, reporter and commentator, and fill-in talk show host
  • Magazine editor and senior editor/assistant to the publisher of a national magazine
  • Press secretary/communications director for –
    • A U.S. Senator who chaired subcommittees on Security & Terrorism and Aging, Family & Human Services
    • A congressional candidate
    • A candidate for lieutenant governor of Virginia
    • A successful presidential campaign in a state primary
    • A Washington, D.C. think tank dealing with the Internet and technology policy
  • Senior researcher for a presidential campaign

 

Senior editor, Capital Research Center.  Editor of two monthly newsletters for CRC, an investigative think tank: Green Watch (on energy and the environment) and Labor Watch (on issues related to labor unions).  Author and ghostwriter of blog posts and newspaper op-eds.  Currently writing a book on the use of deception techniques in politics.

Senior researcher, Newt 2012 (Gingrich for President). Responsible for monitoring and anticipating attacks on Speaker Gingrich and for recommending responses. Responsible for finding and analyzing hard-to-find information under tight deadlines. Assisted in preparation for presidential debates.  Served as the campaign’s expert on Republican National Convention rules.

Editor, Tea Party Review magazine.  Represented the magazine at Tea Party events and other political gatherings.  Represented the magazine in interviews with major media organizations such as The Daily Beast/Newsweek, Politico, The Hill, The American Prospect, the Lou Dobbs radio program, and Fox News.  Personally edited all content and supervised more than 100 volunteer writers.

 

► Served, for a total of 13 years, as the top writing/policy aide to Richard Viguerie, president of the nation’s premier political advertising agency and co-founder of the conservative movement. (John F. Kennedy Jr.’s magazine listed the founding of Viguerie’s company as one of 100 “defining political moments” of the 20th Century.)

►Over the course of a 42-year career in journalism and politics, dealt with news media at all levels – all major newspapers, all major networks, and countless other national, state, and local media – on a wide range of topics related to politics, policy, and national security.

►Organized and managed successful national public relations campaigns on issues ranging from the “Gingrich college course” controversy to the Clinton health care plan.  Initiated criticism of Al Gore for his “creating the Internet” claim – forcing the Gore campaign to change its strategy.

►Wrote articles for The New York Times, Newsday, The Washington Times, The Washington Examiner, WorldNetDaily, CNET’s News.com, NewsMax, The American Thinker, and countless other publications.

►Wrote chapters on mass communications for two textbooks.

►Ghostwrote op-eds for the Los Angeles Times, Washington Monthly, Washington Post (lead op-ed in Sunday commentary section, twice), The Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, and many other publications.

►Ghostwrote book that appeared on The Wall Street Journal list of “Notable Books of the Year.”

►Created and edited the Internet Political Report, the first newsletter on politics and the Internet. Compiled and edited a major position paper on Internet commerce for the Clinton administration.

►Was called a digital revolutionary by the National Journal and The Tea Party’s editor in chief by The Daily Beast/Newsweek.

►Wrote and produced “Who’s Side Are They On?,” which may have been the first political infomercial.

►Briefed members of Congress and their staffs on public policy and spoke at congressional hearings and at events on Capitol Hill and at the National Press Club.

►Spoke at conferences and conventions including the Council for National Policy, the National Center for Policy Analysis, the American Society of Association Executives, the Conservative Political Action Conference, the Leadership Institute, and a NASA conference on the planned Mars mission.

►Created and wrote 316 episodes of the satirical comic strip “The Gentleman from Lickskillet.”

►The only person to serve as a Reagan delegate to three consecutive Republican National Conventions in 1976, 1980, and 1984. Served as a member of the Rules Committee at the 1980 convention. As a journalist, covered the 1984, 1988, and 1992 Republican conventions and the 1984 and 1992 Democratic conventions.  Former GOP county chairman and 8-year member of GOP state committee.

 

Capitol Hill and national political experience: Currently editor of the monthly newsletters Green Watch and Labor Watch.  Served as senior researcher for the Newt Gingrich for President campaign.  Served as editor of the Tea Party magazine, Tea Party Review.  Served as press secretary to U.S. Senator Jeremiah Denton,  chairman of the Senate Subcommittees on Security & Terrorism and Aging, Family & Human Services; served as principal spokesman for the Senator and as his chief speechwriter, and created the first computerized press office in the U.S. Senate.  On behalf of the Progress & Freedom Foundation and the United Seniors Association, briefed members of Congress and their staffs and Washington journalists on various issues and spoke at Congressional hearings and other Capitol Hill events.  Attended seven major-party national political conventions.  Served on the advisory committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus.  Served as a liaison to the White House Office of Political Affairs.

Technology policy experience: Created the first newsletter on politics and the Internet.  Compiled and edited the Internet policy paper by President Clinton’s Internet advisor, wrote for CNET’s News.com on such issues as cryptography and Internet taxation, and was called a “digital revolutionary” by The National Journal.  Led the analysis of the Clinton health care plan on behalf of two national organizations of senior citizens.  Served as vice president of the board of the nation’s top public-access TV station.  Was nominated for president of a state utility regulatory commission.  Spoke at a NASA conference that was part of planning for the Mars mission.  As noted, served on the advisory committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus.  Earned a PhD in Biodefense (see below).

 

Education

  • PhD (biodefense), College of Science, George Mason University.
    • Concentration: Nonproliferation, with extensive studies in Intelligence Analysis and Counterterrorism.
    • Dissertation: “An Analysis of Factors Leading to U.S. Renunciation of Biological Weapons,” examining the military, scientific, diplomatic, political, and intelligence factors – including Soviet deception – that affected the decision by President Nixon and Henry Kissinger.  My dissertation rewrote the history of the U.S. biological weapons program and was the first dissertation ever reviewed in the CBW Conventions Bulletin.
    • Served as president of 200+ member Biodefense Student Association.
    • Studied directly under Ken Alibek, former chief scientist for the Soviet biological weapons program.
    • Served on the GMU Biodefense program’s curriculum committee for 2005.
    • Reportedly one of three people in the world with both a law degree and a Biodefense PhD.
  • JD (law degree), Cumberland Law School, Samford University.
    • Passed the bar on first attempt.
  • MA (master’s degree, political science) and BA (bachelor’s degree, political science), Jacksonville State University. 


Other affiliations & community activity

►DC-area Libertarian Foreign Policy/National Security Group, coordinator, 2014-date.  (This is an effort to reconcile non-interventionist, realist, and hardline views on foreign policy and national security.)

► Family Access/Advocacy Board for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, representing family members of NGA personnel worldwide, chair (2002-2006) and member (2002-2008).

► Director’s Coin for service to the agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, recipient, 2008.

►NASA, “Ethical Considerations: Scarce Resource Allocation for Health and Medical Systems Development and Operations,” a workshop that was part of planning for the Mars mission, presenter and discussant, 2005.

►Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), planning committee member, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1998, 2000.

►Congressional Internet Caucus, advisory committee member, 1998-99.

►Fairfax Cable Access Corp./Channel 10 (America’s top public access TV station), board vice president, 1995-96.

►Metro Washington Mensa, membership officer (vice chair), 1994-95; Metro Washington Mensa’s Politics Special Interest Group (nonpartisan political forum), coordinator, 1989-98; Capital M (DC-area Mensa newsletter), co-editor, 2012-2014; Metro Washington Mensa’s Libertarianism Special Interest Group, coordinator, 2014-date.

►Alabama Public Service Commission, Republican nominee for PSC President, 1988. Received almost half a million votes, a record at the time for a Republican seeking that office.

►Alabama Board of Education, seat for Old 4th congressional district, Republican nominee, 1986.

►Reagan for President, state youth chairman, 1976; Reagan for President, state press secretary (primary), 1980; Republican National Convention, delegate, 1976, 1980, 1984; Republican National Convention Rules Committee, member, 1980; Alabama State Republican Executive Committee, member, 1982-90; Rice for Congress (Alabama 3rd), press secretary and issues director, 1989; Virginia Republican Convention, delegate, 1994; Viguerie for Lt. Governor, press secretary and issues director, 1985.

►El Salvador presidential election, official U.S. observer, 1984.

►Libertarian Republican Alliance, national advisory board member, 1976-80; “Who’s Who on the Libertarian Right,” Human Events, Vol. 40 No. 2, April 1980.

 

Dr. Steven J. Allen

A journalist with 45 years’ experience, Dr. Allen served as press secretary to U.S. Senator Jeremiah Denton and as senior researcher for Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign. He earned a master’s…
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