Michael Signer

Michael Signer is a Senior Policy Advisor at the Center for American Progress and Director of the Homeland Security Presidential Transition Initiative, a joint enterprise of CAP and Third Way. He is also a Senior National Security Policy Fellow at Third Way. Michael previously served as Deputy Counselor to Governor Mark R. Warner of Virginia, where he was specially assigned to homeland security policy for the governor. He has served in a number of senior staff positions on local, state and presidential campaigns, including as Foreign Policy Advisor with the John Edwards for President campaign during 2007 - 2008, and senior member of both the Wesley Clark and John Kerry presidential campaigns in his home state of Virginia. Mike previously served as an associate at WilmerHale in Washington, DC.  Mike has published widely on legal, political and financial topics. His articles and opinion pieces have appeared in The Washington Post, USA Today, Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, The American Prospect Online, The San Francisco Examiner, The Oakland Tribune and the University of Richmond Law Review, among others. Mike is also the author of Demagogue: The Fight to Save Democracy.  Mike is an adjunct professor in Virginia Tech's Master's in Public and International Affairs Program. Mike holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. He earned a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University.