Maurice Sonnenberg Explained

Maurice Sonnenberg has served as an outside advisor to five Presidential Administrations in the areas of international trade, finance, international relations, intelligence, and foreign election monitoring.

Biography

Education

Sonnenberg is a graduate of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service (B.S.), Georgetown Law Center, and New York University International Law (M.S.). He served in the D.C. Air National Guard from 1959 to 1962 and the U.S. Air Force Reserve.

Politics

Sonnenberg began his career, while at Georgetown University, as an aide to Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin, who later headed the Senate Banking Committee,[1] having previously worked for the Lyndon B. Johnson-Hubert Humphrey Presidential campaign as director of special projects. From 1983-93 he was Chairman of the Democratic House & Senate Council. Among his Senate co-chairs at the time were Sen. George Mitchel, Sen. Joseph Biden, Sen. Bob Graham, Sen. John Kerry, and Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV. Among the House co-chairs were current Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer and former Congressman Robert G. Torricelli.

Intelligence and Foreign Policy

In 1994 and 1995, he served as a member of the Moynihan Commission on Government Secrecy, and in 1996 as the Senior Advisor to the U.S. Commission on the Roles and Capabilities of the U.S. Intelligence Community. [Aspin–Brown Commission] He was a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board under President Bill Clinton for 8 years.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

In 2000, he served as Vice-Chairman of the National Commission on Terrorism.[1] [6] [2] [7] According to Sonnenberg, 28 of the 33 recommendations from the report made it to the USA Patriot Act.[8] He has claimed the September 11 attacks could have been prevented if all the recommendations had been implemented.[9]

In 2002, he was a member of the Task Force Report No. 40 of the Council on Foreign Relations called Terrorist Financing.[7] In 2012-14, he served as co-Chairman of the National Commission for the Review of the Research and Development Programs for the Intelligence Community.[1] [6] [10] He has also served as an Official U.S. Observer at elections in Latin America. This includes multiple elections in El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Mexico. He was appointed by the Congress and Administration for these tasks.[1] [11] He serves on the Board of Advisors of the Chertoff Group, headed by Michael Chertoff.(Former Secretary of Homeland Security)[12] [13]

Sonnenberg has served as a foreign policy adviser to various presidential administrations, including:

Clearance: Three Top Secret SCI (currently expired)

Finance and Law

Sonnenberg has worked at the investment banking firms Bear Stearns, J.P. Morgan, and Donaldson Lufkin and Jenrette, and at the law firms Hunton & Williams, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and with Guggenheim Securities as Senior International Advisor. He was a Senior Advisor at Advanced Metallurgical Group, N.V.

Awards and Affiliations

Sonnenberg was awarded Order of the Mexican Eagle (Orden Mexicana del Aguila Azteca) in 2000 by President Ernesto Zedillo. The award was presented by the Administration of President Fox.

In addition, Maurice Sonnenberg has appeared on television and published articles on intelligence, political, foreign affairs, trade issues, and American history. He has been a public speaker in the U.S. and abroad on economics, intelligence & counter-terrorism, political and foreign relations. He has also testified before Congress on some of these subjects.

Notes and References

  1. Panay Gupte, 'Maurice Sonnenberg: A Concerned Optimist', in The New York Sun, March 23, 2005 http://www.nysun.com/business/maurice-sonnenberg-a-concerned-optimist/11004/
  2. http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/EOP/pfiab/boardmembers.html#sonnenberg Clinton archives biography
  3. Loch K. Johnson, Strategic Intelligence: Understanding the Hidden Side of Government, Praeger Publishers, 2006, p. 253 https://books.google.com/books?id=cg39hcj6AxQC&dq=%22Maurice+Sonnenberg%22&pg=PA253
  4. http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/EOP/pfiab/boardmembers.html Clinton archives
  5. Loch K. Johnson, The Threat on the Horizon: An Inside Account of America's Search for Security after the Cold War, Oxford University Press, 2011, p. 420 https://books.google.com/books?id=oF6ElDGX3uYC&dq=%22Maurice+Sonnenberg%22&pg=PA420
  6. Steven Aftergood, 'The Sonnenberg Phenomenon', on Federation of American Scientists blog, November 18th, 2010 http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2010/11/sonnenberg.html
  7. http://www.cfr.org/economics/terrorist-financing/p5080 Terrorist Financing
  8. [Roy Gutman]
  9. Paul E. Sperry, Infiltration: how Muslim spies and subversives have penetrated Washington, Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 2005, p. 138 https://books.google.com/books?id=Dw1mHo6zjKwC&dq=%22Maurice+Sonnenberg%22&pg=PA138
  10. http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2010_cr/h111510.html National Commission for the Review of the Research and Development Programs appointment
  11. https://archive.today/20120719112315/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r101:S18MY9-77: Congressional Record
  12. Web site: Chertoff Group Board of Advisors . 2012-01-01 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111219133103/http://chertoffgroup.com/cgroup/about/board-of-advisors/ . 2011-12-19 . dead .
  13. http://chertoffgroup.com/cgroup/2010/03/the-chertoff-group-names-board-of-advisors-and-expands-leadership-team/ Chertoff Group appointment

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