Robert Borosage
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Radio: Bio of Robert Borosage, president of the Institute for America's Future
September 11, 2005
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Robert L. Borosage is the president of the Institute for America’s Future and co-director of its sister organization, the Campaign for America’s Future. The organizations were launched by 100 prominent Americans to challenge the rightward drift in US politics, and to develop the policies, message and issue campaigns to help forge an enduring majority for progressive change in America. Most recently, Borosage spearheaded the Campaign’s 2002 issues book, StraightTalk 2002, providing activists and candidates with distilled messages on kitchen table concerns, from jobs to affordable health care. Borosage also helped to found and chairs the Progressive Majority Political Action Committee, developing a national base of small donors and skilled activists. Progressive Majority recruits, staffs, and funds progressive candidates for political office.
Mr. Borosage writes widely on political, economic and national security issues for a range of publications including the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is a contributing editor at The Nation magazine, and a regular contributor to The American Prospect magazine. He is a frequent commentator on television and radio, including Fox Morning News, RadioNation, National Public Radio, C-SPAN and Pacifica Radio. He teaches on presidential power and national security as an adjunct professor at American University’s Washington School of Law.
A graduate of Yale Law School, with a graduate degree in International Affairs from George Washington University, Borosage left the practice of law to found the Center for National Security Studies in 1974. The Center focused on the tension between civil rights and the national security powers and prerogatives of the executive branch. It played a leading role in the efforts to investigate the intelligence agencies in the 1970s, curb their abuses, and hold them accountable in the future. At the center, he helped to write and edit two books, "The CIA File" and "The Lawless State."
In 1979, Borosage became director of the Institute for Policy Studies, a research institute that drew its inspiration and fellowship from the major democratic movements of our time – anti-war, women’s, environmental and civil rights movements. He guided the Institute through the Reagan years, and spearheaded its challenge to the renewed Cold War, the revived nuclear arms race, and the assault on Central America. Borosage helped to found and guide Countdown 88, which succeeded in winning the congressional ban on covert action against Nicaragua. Under Borosage’s direction, the Institute expanded its fellowship, launched a successful publications program, and developed a new Washington School for congressional aides and public interest advocates.
In 1988, Borosage left the Institute to serve as senior issues advisor to the presidential campaign of the Reverend Jesse Jackson. He traveled the country with Jackson, writing speeches, framing policy responses, and providing debate preparation and assistance. He went on to advise a range of progressive political campaigns, including those of Senator Carol Moseley-Braun, Barbara Boxer and Paul Wellstone.
In 1989, Borosage founded the Campaign for New Priorities, enlisting over 100 national organizations in the call to reinvest in America in the post-Cold War era. The Campaign sponsored analyses of the military budget and of America’s unmet needs, and provided member organizations with crisp materials for publications, speeches, opinion pieces, and ads. It contributed to accelerating the cuts in military spending during the Bush presidency.
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