Torie Clarke

Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs

Shaping the Public View: The World Trade Center to Operation Iraqi Freedom

WHEN: Friday, November 14, 2003 – Noon to 1:30 p.m.
WHERE: Wyndham Anatole Hotel, Wedgwood Room, Dallas

Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, Torie Clarke, was sitting at her desk in the Pentagon's out ring when the World Trade Center was attacked on September 11, 2001. By the time the Pentagon was hit, Clarke had already moved to the Command Center, where she was one of a small handful of top aides to stay with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld throughout the day – leaving the building only to see the crash site and brief the media. From those moments on 9/11, to embedding correspondents with military units in Operation Iraqi Freedom – a program she conceived, designed and ran – Clarke has played a leading role in shaping the public's understanding of the war on terrorism. Clarke accompanied Rumsfeld on official visits to every continent, including trips to Kabul, Baghdad, Moscow and the Balklands.

Clarke was press secretary for President George H.W. Bush's 1992 re-election campaign, was Assistant U.S. Trade Representative during his administration. In this position she worked with extensively with journalists from around the world and ran a comprehensive private sector liaison program. She has also been an advisor to Arizona Senator John McCain.

Widely respected as one of the nation's most innovative communications strategists, Clarke has advised some of the nation's best-known executives. She has been President of Bozell Eskew advertising, head of the Washington office of Hill and Knowlton and Vice President of the National Cable Telecommunications Association.