Faisal Gill

Faisal Gill is a Republican candidate for Virginia House of Delegates 51^st District.

Biography

Faisal Gill was born in Karachi, Pakistan in 1972 and emigrated to the United States in 1980. He has a BA and JD from American University in Washington, DC.

After graduation he was a labor and employment attorney at a firm in Washington, DC, and then was Deputy General Counsel for Policy at the Office of Personnel Management. He then received an appointment at the White House Office of Homeland Security and then later at the Homeland Security Council as associate counsel. He also served as principal counsel to the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board under Richard Clarke.

Faisal Gill served as a Senior Policy Advisor to the Under Secretary for Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection at the Department of Homeland Security. As such, he was responsible for formulating and coordinating policy for the intelligence directorate. In this capacity, he advised the Under Secretary on policy issues ranging from intelligence policy, infrastructure protection, cyber-security and information sharing initiatives.

He also served in the United States Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps where he managed two legal offices. Later in his Navy career, he served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in Greenbelt Maryland. He currently is a Lieutenant Commander in the US Naval Reserve serving in the litigation division of the Office of the Judge Advocate General.

Faisal Gill is the managing partner of [http://www.gillgallinger.com Gill & Gallinger] 's Washington, DC office. The firm's partners include the controversial spokesman and lobbyist Asim Ghafoor. Faisal resides with his wife and children in Lake Ridge, Virginia.

Faisal was the Republican nominee for the Virginia House of Delegates in the 51st district in 2007 and was defeated by Democrat Paul Nichols in the November 6th, 2007 general election.

The Faisal Gill "Affair"

Gill's critics have often raised the matter of his alleged ties to violent jihadists in attempting to derail his political career. However, Gill's backers, most significantly Virginia state senator Ken Cuccinelli, have argued that federal investigations exonerated Gill.

Faisal Gill served as spokesman and "Director of Government Affairs" for the American Muslim Council, an organization founded and led by Abdurahman Alamoudi, who in 2003 was sentenced to 23 years in federal prison for bringing over one million dollars in cash provided by the Libyan government into the U.S. Gill served in a similar capacity as Director of Government Affairs for the Islamic Free Market Institute in 2001, an organization founded by conservative activists including Nina Reese, Grover Norquist and Randa Hudome.

The precise dates of Gill's employment by these organizations are unclear. Gill has admitted on government security forms to working at the AMC in between October 2000 and 2001, but it is not known when Gill first started work at the AMC. After being appointed by George Bush as a policy director for the Department of Homeland Security, Frank Gaffney of FrontPage Magazine raised questions regarding Faisal Gill's disclosure of this employment on his security clearance application as well as Gill's ties to violent jihadists. After Gaffney was able to secure a letter of inquiry from Sen. John Kyl, who serves as Co-Chair for Gaffney's Center for Security Policy, regarding these organizations, this inquiry resulted in Gill being sent on paid leave for 3 days in June 2004 pending the outcome of the investigation. The results of a DHS Inspector General investigation announced in August 2004 wholly vidicated Gill, stating that he had gone "above and beyond" the disclosure requirements and indicated that there was no reason to deny Faisal Gill a clearance.

The Senate Finance Committee then requested clarification [http://www.globalterroralert.com/faisalgillletter.pdf] on August 9th regarding the results of this investigation, Faisal Gill's qualifications for the position, his relationship with Asim Ghafoor, and several other questions.

Faisal Gill left the Department of Homeland Security in January, 2005. The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General considers the case closed.

References

* [http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=14267 The Faisal Gill Affair] by Frank Gaffney, "FrontPage Magazine", July 19th, 2004
* [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,126719,00.html Homeland Appointee Under Investigation] "Fox News", July 25th, 2004
* [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,128826,00.html Homeland Security Responds] Fox News, August 12, 2004
* [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,128743,00.html Senators Inquire on Homeland Appointee] Fox News, August 13th, 2004

External links

* [http://www.faisalgill.com/ Official campaign website]
* [http://www.gillgallinger.com/attorneys.asp#faisal Faisal Gill's biography] from Gill & Gallinger Web site