Security and Immigration in a Post-9/11 United States

Edward Alden

Edward Alden is the Bernard L. Schwartz senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), specializing in U.S. competitiveness. His expertise includes U.S. immigration and visa policies, U.S. trade policy, and the impact of homeland security policies on U.S. economic competitiveness. Mr. Alden is the author of the recent book, The Closing of the American Border: Terrorism, Immigration and Security Since 9/11 (HarperCollins), and he is currently directing CFR’s Independent Task Force on U.S. Immigration Policy. Before joining CFR, Mr. Alden was the Washington bureau chief for the Financial Times, writing on U.S. economic issues, trade policy, and homeland security. He was previously the Canadian bureau chief for the Financial Times based in Toronto, a senior reporter with the Vancouver Sun specializing in labor and employment issues, and was the managing editor of the newsletter Inside US Trade, widely recognized as the leading source of reporting on U.S. trade policies.

Alden has won several national and international awards for his reporting. Mr. Alden has done numerous TV and radio appearances as an analyst on political and economic issues, including NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, McLaughlin Group, NPR, the BBC, CNN, and MSNBC. His work has also appeared in Foreign Policy, the Japan Times, the San Jose Mercury News, and the Toronto Globe and Mail. He is the co-author, with Franz Schurmann, of Democratic Politics and World Order, a monograph published by Berkeley’s Institute of International Studies in 1990. Mr. Alden holds a Master’s degree in international relations from the University of California, Berkeley, and pursued doctoral studies before returning to a journalism career. He also has a Bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of British Columbia. He was the winner of numerous academic awards, including a Mellon fellowship in the humanities and a MacArthur Foundation graduate fellowship.