WASHINGTON — The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) announced on June 5 that at a ceremony held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano swore-in ADC National Executive Director Kareem Shora as a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC).

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) Executive Director Kareem Shora, newly appointed to the U.S. Homeland Security Advisory Council, is shown in this file photo during the 2008 ADC national convention in Washington D.C. The groups 2009 convention is this weekend.

HSAC members, limited by charter to no more than 21, are appointed by the DHS Secretary and are comprised of national security experts from state, local and tribal governments, first responder communities, academia and the private sector. HSAC provides advice and recommendations directly to Secretary Napolitano on homeland security issues.
“This appointment is a great reflection on Kareem’s ability and the work of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee,” said ADC President Mary Rose Oakar. “We are very proud of Kareem and believe his appointment will be very helpful in the protection of the civil rights of people with Arab roots as well as others.”

Shora, who joined ADC in 2000 as Legal Advisor, was ADC Legal Director before he was appointed to his current position as National Executive Director in 2006. He is a recipient of the 2003 American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Arthur C. Helton Human Rights Award. He has been published by the National Law Journal, TRIAL Magazine, the Georgetown University Law Center’s Journal on Poverty Law and Public Policy, the Harvard University JFK School of Government Asian American Policy Review, the American Bar Association (ABA) Air and Space Lawyer, and the Yeshiva University Cardozo Public Law Policy and Ethics Journal.

A frequent guest on Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera and numerous American television programs, Shora has spoken about civil rights, civil liberties and immigration policy with many national and international media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, Voice of America, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Associated Press, CNN and the Chicago Tribune among others.

He has also testified before major international human rights bodies including regular testimonies before the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

Other members of the HSAC include Lee Hamilton, former Congressman and President of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; Martin O’Malley, Governor of Maryland; Judge William Webster, former Director of Central Intelligence; Sonny Perdue, Governor of Georgia; Raymond Kelly, New York City Police Commissioner; Louis Freeh, former FBI Director and Senior Managing Partner at Freeh Group International; Frances Fragos Townsend, former White House Homeland Security Advisor; Kenneth “Chuck” Canterbury, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police; Manny Diaz, Mayor of Miami, Florida; Jared “Jerry” Cohon, President of Carnegie Mellon University; Leroy “Lee” Baca, Sheriff of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department; Clark Kent Ervin, former DHS Inspector General and Director of the Homeland Security Program at The Aspen Institute; Sherwin “Chuck” Wexler, Executive Director of the Police Executive Research Forum; Harold Schaitberger, General President of the International Association of Firefighters; and Joe Shirley Jr., President of the Navajo Nation, among others.