Michael A. Sheehan (February 10, 1955 – July 30, 2018) was an American author and former government official and military officer. He was a Distinguished Chair at the U.S. Military Academy in

West Point, New York West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States. Located on the Hudson River in New York (state), New York, General George Washington stationed his headquarters in West Point in the summer and fall of 1779 durin ...

and a terrorist analyst for NBC News.

Education

Born in

Red Bank, New Jersey Red Bank is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Incorporated in 1908, the community is on the Navesink River, the area's original transportation route to the ocean and other ports. Red Bank is in the New York metro ...

, Sheehan was raised in Hazlet and graduated from Christian Brothers Academy in 1973 and the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

(West Point) in 1977. Mr. Sheehan was the son of a school teacher and a civil engineer John and Janet Sheehan, the former of which also attended the United States Military Academy at West Point. Sheehan has a

Master of Science in Foreign Service This list refers to specific master's degrees in North America. Please see master's degree for a more general overview. Accountancy Master of Accountancy (MAcc, MAc, MAcy or MPAcc), alternatively Master of Professional Accountancy (MPAcy or M ...

from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service as well as one from the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

Command and General Staff College The United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC or, obsolete, USACGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military ...

Military career

He served as an officer in the infantry and

Special Forces Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

. He had several overseas assignments, as a commander of a "

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to co ...

" unit in

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

, a

counterinsurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN, or NATO spelling counter-insurgency) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the ac ...

advisor in

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

, an infantry company commander in

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

, and on

peacekeeping Peacekeeping comprises activities, especially military ones, intended to create conditions that favor lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed w ...

duty in

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

and

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

. Also while on active duty, he served in the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

on the

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a n ...

staff for Presidents

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

and

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

Department of State

In 1998, he was appointed

Coordinator for Counterterrorism The coordinator for counterterrorism heads the Bureau of Counterterrorism and Countering Violent Extremism, which coordinates U.S. government efforts to fight terrorism. As the head of the counterterrorism bureau, the coordinator for counterterror ...

with the

rank A rank is a position in a hierarchy. It can be formally recognized—for example, cardinal, chief executive officer, general, professor—or unofficial. People Formal ranks * Academic rank * Corporate title * Diplomatic rank * Hierarchy ...

and status of

Ambassador-at-Large An ambassador-at-large is a diplomat, a secretary of state, secretary, or a minister (government), minister of the highest rank who is accredited to represent a country and its people internationally. Unlike an ambassador-in-residence, who is us ...

at the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

and was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

for this position in 1999. Following an assignment as Assistant-Secretary-General at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

in the

Department of Peacekeeping Operations The Department of Peace Operations (DPO) (French: ''Département des opérations de maintien de la paix'') is a department of the United Nations charged with the planning, preparation, management, and direction of United Nations peacekeeping, ...

(2001 to 2003), Sheehan served as Deputy Commissioner of Counter Terrorism for the

New York City Police Department The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

until May 2006. According to General Daniel P. Bolger's book ''Why We Lost'', at an acrimonious meeting in the Clinton White House, Mr. Sheehan asked the members of the Armed Forces present: "Does Al Qaeda have to hit the Pentagon to get your attention?" In an interview with a local TV channel, former head of the ISI, General Ziauddin Butt said that US did not intend to capture

Osama Bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...

. General said: "Of the officers US sent to probe for him (Osama Bin Laden), one was a retired major named Sheehan who was extremely unprofessional. At night when we were supposed to discuss the matter, he was so drunk that we had no chance of discussing this matter".

Life after diplomatic service

Sheehan then served as president and co-founder of Lexington Security Group, an international consulting firm that specializes in providing international

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...

internal security Internal security is the act of keeping peace within the borders of a sovereign state or other Self-governance, self-governing territories, generally by upholding the national law and defending against internal security threats. This task and rol ...

, and

national defense National security, or national defence (national defense in American English), is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived ...

organizations with strategic guidance, unit training, and individual mentoring to manage emerging security challenges. He was a partner in Torch Hill Investment Partners, a

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

group in New York City that specializes in the defense, intelligence and security sectors. He was also a terrorism analyst for

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

and a fellow at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

's Center on Law and Security.

Return to federal service

The White House nominated Sheehan to become Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict on November 1, 2011. The

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

Senate Armed Services Committee The Committee on Armed Services, sometimes abbreviated SASC for Senate Armed Services Committee, is a committee of the United States Senate empowered with legislative oversight of the nation's military, including the Department of Defen ...

held his confirmation hearing on November 17, 2011, and he was confirmed by a voice vote on December 17, 2011.

Death

Sheehan died in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...

from

multiple myeloma Multiple myeloma (MM), also known as plasma cell myeloma and simply myeloma, is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell that normally produces antibody, antibodies. Often, no symptoms are noticed initially. As it progresses, bone ...

on July 30, 2018, aged 63.

Author

Sheehan is the author of the book ''Crush the Cell: How to Defeat Terrorism Without Terrorizing Ourselves'' Op-Ed Contributor - The Hatfields and McCoys of Counterterrorism - NYTimes.com
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References

External links

* ttps://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/03/AR2008050302047.html? Probe of USS Cole Bombing Unravels

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

May 4, 2008 , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheehan, Michael A. 1955 births 2018 deaths American officials of the United Nations Christian Brothers Academy (New Jersey) alumni Deaths from multiple myeloma in the United States Members of the United States Army Special Forces New York City Police Department officers People from Hazlet, New Jersey People from Red Bank, New Jersey People in counterterrorism Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni United States ambassadors-at-large United States Army Command and General Staff College alumni United States Army officers United States Assistant Secretaries of Defense United States Military Academy alumni Xavier High School (New York City) alumni United States coordinators for counterterrorism