Suhail Khan
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Suhail A. Khan is the Senior Fellow for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Institute for Global Engagement and Senior Director for External Affairs at Microsoft). Khan was previously a senior political appointee with the Bush administration, and a conservative political activist in
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...


Background and education

Khan was born in
Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...
, to parents who emigrated to Wyoming and Colorado from
southern India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...
.Suhail Khan
unitedliberty.org
The oldest of five children, Suhail grew up in California, earned his high school diploma from St. Lawrence Academy in Santa Clara in 1987 (a private Catholic college preparatory school), a B.A. in political science from the
University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...
in 1991 and his J.D. from the
University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...
in 1995.


Career

Khan served as Policy Director and Press Secretary for U.S. Congressman Tom Campbell (R-CA), working closely on legislation relating to health
antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...
reform, religious freedom, the preservation of the
Second Amendment The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...
,
tort reform Tort reform consists of changes in the civil justice system in common law countries that aim to reduce the ability of plaintiffs to bring tort litigation (particularly actions for negligence) or to reduce damages they can receive. Such changes ...
,
gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms and ammunition by civilians. Most countries allow civilians to own firearms, bu ...
, the reform of race-based
affirmative action Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries' laws and policies) refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking ...
, and the 1998
impeachment Impeachment is a process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In Eur ...
proceedings in the House of Representatives. After the 2000 elections, he aided the White House Office of Public Liaison in the President’s outreach to the conservative, think-tank, military and veteran and
Asian-American Asian Americans are Americans with ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for ...
communities. He served as Assistant to the Secretary for Policy under U.S. Secretary Mary Peters at the
U.S. Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the president of the United States a ...
, where he was awarded the Secretary’s Team Award in 2005 and the Gold Medal for Outstanding Achievement in 2007. In 2010 and again in 2013, Khan led delegations of American and international faith leaders to Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp that operated in German-occupied Poland and the Dachau concentration camp in Germany, to educate faith and community leaders regarding the tragedy of the Holocaust during World War Two. Joined by Rabbi Jack Bemporad of the Center for Interreligious Understanding of New Jersey and Professor Marshall Breger of the Catholic University of America
Columbus School of Law The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law is the law school of the Catholic University of America, a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C., United States. More than 370 Juris Doctor students attend the ...
, the delegations visited the death camps, met with survivors, issued statements strongly condemning anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial, and pledged to fight religious bigotry.


Political activities

In a volunteer capacity, Khan was an active participant in the RNC’s 72-hour program and deployed to key races in states including Colorado, Washington, Iowa, Louisiana, Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. Khan serves on the Board of Directors for the
American Conservative Union The American Conservative Union (ACU) is an American political organization that advocates for Conservatism in the United States, conservative policies, ranks politicians based on their level of conservatism, and organizes the Conservative Poli ...
, the Indian American Conservative Council, and on the interfaith Buxton Initiative Advisory Council. He speaks regularly at conferences and venues such as the
Conservative Political Action Conference The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC ) is an annual political conference attended by Conservatism in the United States, conservative Activism, activists and officials from across the United States. CPAC is hosted by the American ...
(CPAC), the
Council for National Policy The Council for National Policy (CNP) is an umbrella organization and networking group that advocates for conservative and Republican Party initiatives in the United States. It was launched in 1981 during the Reagan administration by Tim LaHay ...
(CNP), the Harbour League, and the National Press Club and has contributed to publications such as the ''
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 ...
/
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
Forum On Faith'', the ''Washington Post'', Foreign Policy, and Human Events. Khan was interviewed, by Pastor Bob Roberts of
Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
, where he discussed Muslim-Christian interaction and his experience serving 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 ...
, and has appeared on the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
,
CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
, Al-Jazeera,
C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...
, and
MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...
's '' The Rachel Maddow Show'' as a conservative commenter. Khan has been critical of anti-Muslim sentiments among conservatives and Republicans.


Trump administration

In 2015, Khan criticized Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for his anti-Muslim remarks. Khan criticized Islamophobic remarks by Republican candidates Ben Carson and Donald Trump, arguing that they are damaging the efforts of the party to recruit Muslims. After Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination, Khan stated "I’m not a Trump supporter; I initially supported Rand Paul," and "As a lawyer and conservative, I see that Trump’s comments have had a negative impact on the party." In a 2017 interview, Khan said of the Trump presidency "I'm excited for the nomination and confirmations of Justice
Neil Gorsuch Neil McGill Gorsuch ( ; born August 29, 1967) is an American jurist who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was Neil Gorsuch Supreme Court ...
and FCC Chairman
Ajit Pai Ajit Varadaraj Pai (; born January 10, 1973) is an American lawyer who served as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 2017 to 2021. He became a partner at the private-equity firm Searchlight Capital in April 2021. He bec ...
". He also anticipated that the Trump administration would work on tax reform for small-business owners and the middle class. Khan was listed as an advisory board member of the "Indian Voices for Trump" coalition for Trump's 2020 re-election campaign.


References


Further reading

* "Helping a Nation Heal" Pat Lopes Harris, ''San Jose Mercury News,'' May 5, 2002. * "Helping a Nation Heal" Pat Lopes Harris, ''San Jose Mercury News,'' May 5, 2002. * "Khan Promoted to Key DOT Post" Aziz Haniffa. ''India Abroad,'' October 27, 2006. * "Khan Promoted to Key DOT Post" Aziz Haniffa. ''India Abroad,'' October 27, 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Suhail A. Living people American Muslims California Republicans United States Department of Transportation officials University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Iowa alumni People from Boulder, Colorado Activists from California Year of birth missing (living people) American politicians of Indian descent