Session Speaker

Catherine Herridge

Catherine Herridge is an award-winning Chief Intelligence correspondent for the Fox News Channel.

Catherine was the first network correspondent assigned to the Homeland Security beat in 2001. She now covers intelligence, the Justice Department, and the Department of Homeland Security.

Catherine’s latest book, The Next Wave, exposes the new face of terrorism and predicts the source of future threats. It was the first book of its kind since Bin Laden’s death to show what the next chapter of terrorism could look like – she calls it “al Qaeda 2.0” (Catherine was the first reporter to coin this term).

As she discusses in her speeches, Catherine’s investigation of al Qaeda 2.0 exposed the rising threat of homegrown terrorism, how social networking is the lifeblood of the digital jihadist, and the profound influence of the first American on the CIA’s kill or capture list, Anwar al-Awlaki, an American cleric who steers al Qaeda in Yemen—the most active and lethal of the terror network’s affiliates.

At Fox News, Catherine and her team of investigative journalists traveled across the United States and to Yemen to complete an eighteen-month investigation into al-Awlaki, who is linked to three of the 9/11 hijackers, the Fort Hood attack, the attempted bombing on Christmas Day 2009, the failed attack on Times Square in May 2010, and the cargo printer bomb plot in October 2010. The Washington Post recently described the resulting documentary as “an explosive hour.” Catherine is described as one of the country’s top national security correspondents, and her reporting is prompting letters from Capitol Hill. The House Homeland Security Committee has now opened an official investigation into the American cleric and whether he was an overlooked key player in the 9/11 plot.

Catherine comes from a military family, so her national security reporting is deeply personal. She is not sitting on the sidelines like most correspondents. Her family is feeling the impact. Catherine is also the mother of two young children. In 2005, her family made national headlines when Catherine donated part of her liver to their youngest son, Peter, for a lifesaving transplant. Catherine is now an outspoken advocate for organ donation. The experience brought a new fearlessness to her reporting.

Catherine speaks to aspiring journalists about her experiences as an investigative reporter, how to “connect the dots” and develop sources in the intelligence and law-enforcement communities. A graduate of Harvard College and the Columbia School of Journalism, Catherine began her career as a London-based correspondent for ABC News. She has reported from Afghanistan, Iraq, Qatar, Israel, the former Yugoslavia, Northern Ireland, Guantánamo Bay, and New York City on 9/11. She is one of the few reporters to sit in the same military courtroom as the self-described architect of the 9/11 attack, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and his four alleged co-conspirators.

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