View source for Andrew Cochran (US lobbyist)

[[Image:Andrew_Cochran.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Andrew Cochran]]

'''Andrew Cochran''' is Vice President of the Washington lobbying firm [[GAGE]], founder of [[Counterterrorism Blog]] and a lobbyist for [[Steve Emerson]] and the [[Investigative Project]]. He has also appeared as a media pundit on terrorism on numerous media outlets, including CBS News, MSNBC, the Fox News Channel, BBC Radio, and Congressional Quarterly. 

==Early Career==

Cochran has a B.S. in Accounting from Miami University and a J.D. and M.B.A. from the University of Notre Dame. He was a accountant in Ohio in the early 1980s and he briefly practiced law with a firm in Washington, D.C. He served for almost five years in the Reagan Administration as a Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Commerce and to the Under Secretary for Expert Administration. He was the Deputy Secretary’s management specialist, advising the Deputy Secretary on Commerce budget and management decisions and initiatives. He then worked for almost 11 years as a division director and senior analyst at the Commerce Department’s Office of Inspector General. <ref>GAGE business consulting and government affairs [http://gage.cc/index.php/site/our_team Our Team] (accessed 28 March 2008)</ref>

==House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services==

From early 2001 through 2003, Cochran was senior oversight counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Financial Services. He covered the Committee’s jurisdiction over federal regulation of banking, securities, insurance, and housing, with his investigations ranging from major identity theft and housing fraud cases to federal money laundering and anti-terrorist financing issues. He also led investigations into the corporate accounting scandals.

==Counterterrorism Blog founder==

After leaving the Committee on Financial Services Cochran became a lobbyist and counterterrorism activist. According to his own account Cochran founded [[Counterterrorism Blog]] as a result of his experience at the House of Representatives Committee, where he says he, "had the opportunity to reach Administration officials, academics, and independent experts who ferret out, sometimes at great personal risk, critical information on individuals, groups, and the linkages among and between them and with state sponsors."<ref>Andrew Cochran speech to the Hudson Institute, [http://www.hudson.org/files/publications/AndrewCochranCTConferenceSpeech.pdf 'Combating Terrorist Financing and the 110th Congress' (PDF)], 30 January 2007</ref> These experts included [[Investigative Project]] ‘experts’ [[Steve Emerson]], [[Evan Kohlmann]] and [[Matthew Epstein]] who testified before the Committee on 11 March 2003. After leaving the Committee in late 2003 Cochran says he, "endeavored to build a consulting practice with a homeland security and counterterrorism
component which would support the interests of the private sector in the Global War on
Terror".<ref>Andrew Cochran speech to the Hudson Institute, [http://www.hudson.org/files/publications/AndrewCochranCTConferenceSpeech.pdf 'Combating Terrorist Financing and the 110th Congress' (PDF)], 30 January 2007</ref> His desire to do so was reinforced after listening to a seminar on terrorism in December 2004 featuring [[Peter Bergen]], and he says he spent that month designing the blog and recruiting experts. The site opened on 5 January 2005.<ref>Andrew Cochran speech to the Hudson Institute, [http://www.hudson.org/files/publications/AndrewCochranCTConferenceSpeech.pdf 'Combating Terrorist Financing and the 110th Congress' (PDF)], 30 January 2007</ref>

==Lobbyist==

Cochran worked at the lobbying firm [[Durenberger/Foote]] before becoming Senior VP of [[Public Policy Partners]] in January 2004. That firm merged with [[GAGE]] in September 2005.<ref>Andrew Cochran speech to the Hudson Institute, [http://www.hudson.org/files/publications/AndrewCochranCTConferenceSpeech.pdf 'Combating Terrorist Financing and the 110th Congress' (PDF)], 30 January 2007</ref> In September 2005 Public Policy Partners merged with [[GAGE]]. Cochran’s clients at Durenberger/Foote and Public Policy Partners included the [[Investigative Project]] and the law firm [[Motley Rice]].

==Resources==

*[[Media:Steven Emerson Public Policy Partnership Year End Report 2004.pdf]]
*[[Media: Steven Emerson Durenberger-Foote Year End Report 2005.pdf]]
*[[Media: Steven Emerson Public Policy Partners mid-year termination report 2006.pdf]]

==Notes==
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[[category:Terrorexpertise]]