[1][2][3] He is the founder and president[1] of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a think tank[1] created shortly after the 9/11 attacks,[4] where he hosts the podcast Foreign Podicy.

In October 2007, The Daily Telegraph named May number 94 in its list of the "100 most influential conservatives in America", identifying him as a neo-conservative within the Republican Party.

He started writing a weekly political and social criticism column that was distributed nationally by Scripps Howard News Service.

[6] In his position, he oversaw activities such as strategic planning, press, radio, television, online services, speech writing, and advertising.

"In this very challenging period of history, it is vital that the United States communicates with audiences abroad clearly and creatively,” May said, “I will be honored and privileged if I can assist with this mission.”[10] May is an International Patron of the Henry Jackson Society.

In October 2007, The Daily Telegraph named May number 94 in its list of the "100 most influential conservatives in America", and labeled him "an outspoken proponent of the need to achieve victory in Iraq and the broader war against Muslim extremism".

[7] May supports the use of enhanced interrogation techniques, other than waterboarding, against those captured by the United States in what he calls the war on terror, so long as they are used as a "last resort"; he views them as fundamentally different from torture.

In March 2008, he wrote for the National Review Online that "[w]hat one can not say is that regime change in Iraq was unjustified: Not if you know Saddam's record, his clearly stated intentions, and his ties to international terrorists—including, as a new Pentagon report reveals, a group headed by Ayman al-Zawahiri, now al Qaeda’s second-in-command.

"[9] In October 2012, May wrote for the San Angelo Standard Times that, despite the death of Osama bin Laden and other successes against al-Qaida, he considered the group "degraded" but not actually "defeated"; he referred to the attempted assassination of Malala Yousafzai as a particular sign of a still dangerous Taliban.

He argued that "Roosevelt and Churchill grasped what too many analysts in government, academia, media and think tanks do not: To prevail against America's 21st century enemies, kinetic warfare is necessary but insufficient.

[15] David Corn, writing for The Nation in March 2007 in the aftermath of the scandal, disputed May's assertions, and he quoted Plame as saying that only a handful of people knew about her covert status.

[20] On December 31, 2009, May jokingly suggested releasing detainees from Guantanamo Bay to Yemen, then sending "missiles to strike the baggage-claim area".