Andrew Cochran (US lobbyist)

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.

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." 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". 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.

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. Cochran’s clients at Durenberger/Foote and Public Policy Partners included the Investigative Project and the law firm Motley Rice.

Resources

• Public Policy Partnership Lobbying Report for Steven Emerson 2004
• Durenberger/Foote Lobbying Report for Steven Emerson 2005
• Public Policy Partnership Lobbying Report for Steven Emerson (mid-year termination) 2006