Ahmed Younis is a Senior Consultant for Gallup and a Senior Analyst for the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies and the Muslim-West Facts Initiative. He is the author of American Muslims: Voir Dire [Speak the Truth], a post-Sept. 11 look at the reality of debate surrounding American Muslims and their country.
Ahmed is a member of the Advisory Committee on U.S.-Muslim World Relations of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). He is a regular speaker at government conferences, briefings, and events covering topics such as terrorist financing, public diplomacy, identity/integration, and issues affecting Western Muslim communities. In 2006, Ahmed joined Ambassador Dennis Ross at an event sponsored by Search for Common Ground - USA to begin a national conversation on a long-term strategy to improve U.S. relations with the Muslim world.
In 2006, the U.S. State Department invited Ahmed to tour Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan and engage in a people-to-people experience. He met with government, community, and religious leaders and visited madrassas across the region. Ahmed has lectured in Barcelona, Brussels, Bellagio, Kuala Lumpur, Madrid, and Rome at academic and nongovernmental institutions on topics such as "Muslims in American Public Life," "The Role of American and European Muslim Leaders in Bridging the Divide With the Islamic World," "Facing Terrorist Propaganda: Who Is Winning Hearts and Minds?" and "Muslims and Civil Liberties in the United States After Sept. 11, 2001."
Ahmed is a frequent guest on television and radio shows, including: Fox's "The O'Reilly Factor," "Hannity & Colmes," "The Big Story With John Gibson," and "Fox News Live"; PBS's "The News Hour With Jim Lehrer"; "The Fred Friendly Seminars"; the "CBS Evening News"; CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360°," "This Week at War," "Glenn Beck on CNN Headline News," and CNN International; the BBC; MSNBC's "Tucker"; Al-Jazeera; the Trinity Broadcasting Network; and Sinclair Broadcast Group. Ahmed's work has also been featured in many leading U.S. newspapers, including The American Legion Magazine, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Dallas Morning News, the Chicago Tribune, and the Los Angeles Times, as well as newspapers in 14 countries.
Ahmed served as National Director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) from 2004 to January 2007. Before joining MPAC, Ahmed worked as an intern at the Office of the Legal Counsel of the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs. He was also assigned to the office of the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Iraq. A graduate of Washington & Lee University School of Law, Ahmed has studied and lived in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and is fluent in Arabic.
