page_title: William Cohen
section_title: Recent years
hierarchical_section_title: William Cohen / Recent years
caption_attribution_description: Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis meets with former Secretary of Defense William Cohen prior to the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Feb. 17, 2017. Cohen served as the 20th Secretary of Defense from 1997-2001. (DOD photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Brigitte N. Brantley)
context_page_description: William Sebastian Cohen is an American politician, lawyer and author from the U.S. state of Maine. A Republican, Cohen served as both a member of the United States House of Representatives and Senate, and as Secretary of Defense under Democratic President Bill Clinton.
  Described as "a Republican moderate from Maine, something of a maverick centrist" by David Halberstam, Cohen had very good working relations with President Clinton and National Security Adviser Sandy Berger and "almost ideal" collaboration with the Joint Chiefs of Staff; however, he often clashed with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, whom he saw as "a grandstander, too outspoken on policy matters and too eager to use military force".
context_section_description: After leaving the Pentagon in 2001, Cohen founded The Cohen Group, a business consulting and lobbyist firm, with three Pentagon officials, Bob Tyrer, Jim Bodner, and H.K. Park. Cohen was presented with the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service by the Woodrow Wilson Center of the Smithsonian Institution on March 7, 2002, in New York City.
  On January 5, 2006, he participated in a meeting at the White House of former Secretaries of Defense and State to discuss United States foreign policy with Bush administration officials.
  Cohen has written several books, including mysteries, poetry, and (with George Mitchell) an analysis of the Iran-contra affair. He is a Chairman Emeritus of the US-Taiwan Business Council. The Washington Post ran an article entitled "From Public Life to Private Business" about Cohen's abrupt transition to the business of Washington lobbying within "weeks of leaving office." (May 28, 2006). It discussed the affairs of the Cohen Group in greater detail and while alleging no specific impropriety, took a generally negative view of the former Senator and Secretary of Defense.
  On August 21, 2006, Cohen's novel, Dragon Fire, was released. The plot revolves around a secretary of defense who contends with a potential nuclear threat from a foreign country. In December 2006 he released a memoir with his wife, author Janet Langhart, entitled Love in Black and White, a memoir about race, religion, and the love couple shares over similar life circumstances and backgrounds. He then appeared on The Daily Show (August 22, 2006) and on Fox & Friends First (August 25, 2006), where he said to host Brian Kilmeade, "I think there should be a commitment to universal service. I think that only a few people are really committed to this war against terrorism. ... We ought to have a real call to national service to commit ourselves to some form of public service ...to put us on a war footing mentality."
  BBC News hired Cohen as a world affairs analyst in May 2016. Cohen appears in this capacity on BBC World News America and other broadcasts.
  Cohen and Madeleine Albright are co-chairing a new "Genocide Prevention Task Force". Their appointment was criticized by Harut Sassounian and by the Armenian National Committee of America.
  Cohen serves as an Advisory Board member for the Partnership for a Secure America and is also a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One. In addition, he serves as a board member of the U.S.-China Business Council, having served as vice chairman between 2011-2013, and the U.S.-India Business Council.
  During the 2016 presidential election, Cohen joined many Republicans in breaking with party ranks to oppose the candidacy of Republican nominee Donald Trump. He endorsed Democratic nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In the 2020 election, Cohen again announced his support for the Democratic presidential candidate, endorsing Joe Biden.
caption: Cohen with then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in February 2017
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