Elected Officials

US Senate

Senator Arlen Specter. (D)

Website: http://specter.senate.gov/

Pennsylvania Senator, elected in 1980
Education: He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal. He is a graduate of Yale University Law School.
Elected Offices: Served on the Warren Commission as Assistant Counsel (1963-1964), District Attorney, Philadelphia (1965 - 1974), elected United States Senator in 1980.
Committees: He is a senior member of the Senate Judiciary, Appropriations and Veterans Affairs committees.
Strengthening our nation's security has been a long-standing priority of Senator Specter's. Thirty days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Senator Specter drafted the legislation that established the Department of Homeland Security. While serving as Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee in the 104th Congress, he authored the bill creating the Inspector General of the Central Intelligence Agency, marking the only reform legislation to emerge from the Iran-Contra affair.
Senator Specter was born to immigrant parents in Wichita, Kansas, and grew up in the small town of Russell, Kansas. Senator Specter lives in Philadelphia with his wife Joan. They have two sons and four grandchildren.