In a time when the executive branch of the United States government continues to grow stronger, Congress is faced with the increasingly difficult task of overseeing presidential policy.

This topic will be discussed when the School of Politics and Public Policy at West Virginia University hosts Andrew McCanse Wright, associate professor at Savannah Law School, and former associate counsel to President Barack Obama, on Sep. 26, from 2:30-4, in room G21 of Ming Hsieh Hall on the downtown WVU campus.

The event is free and open to the public.

Wright will present “Congressional Oversight of the Executive in the Age of Information, Terrorism, and Partisanship” as part of the John R. Williams Lecture Series.

The lecture will cover a variety of challenges to ensuring governmental accountability, including secrecy, civil-military relations, and the current structure of congressional oversight. A question and answer session with the audience will follow the presentation.

“(Mr. Wright) is unusually well-positioned to speak on these topics in that he brings in a unique knowledge base that almost nobody else has in terms of understanding this connection, having personally worked on this issue from both the top level in Congress and the top level in the White House,” said Scott Crichlow, director of the WVU School of Politics and Policy.

He served in the White House in a senior capacity, where he represented the executive office of the President in a variety of matters, with a special focus on congressional investigations on the executive branch.

Previously, he served four years on the senior staff of the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in the U.S. House of Representatives, culminating in two years as staff director.

While working in Congress he handled regional issues related to the Middle East, South Asia, Africa and Latin America, and policy issues concerning counterterrorism, foreign assistance, defense spending accountability, energy security and post-conflict stabilization.

Wright began his legal career as assistant counsel to vice president Al Gore in the White House, where he served as an attorney on the White House Counsel’s investigations team, and sat on the tort reform policy working-group.

In 2001, Wright served as general counsel to the Gore Transition Office, where he represented Al Gore during his transition out of his term.

Wright was named a founding editor of the national security blog “Just Security” in 2013.

The John R. Williams Lecture Series was established to honor former long-time political science professor John R. Williams and features lectures on American politics.

For more information, contact Scott Crichlow at (304) 293-9535 or scott.crichlow@mail.wvu.edu.

-WVU-

ma/09/25/14

CONTACT: Devon Copeland, Director of Marketing and Communication, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
304-293-6867, Devon.Copeland@mail.wvu.edu

Follow @WVUToday on Twitter.