A former foreign correspondent for The Associated Press, he is author of the best-seller "Den of Lions," an account of his seven years as a hostage of the Shiite Moslem radicals in Lebanon.

Anderson is a strong advocate of government reform, and has served on the New York State Temporary Commission on Constitutional Revision, and the Westchester County Commission on Public Campaign Financing. He is chairman of the national advisory board of The Interfaith Alliance, an organization founded to provide a mainstream political voice for people of faith, and to confront religious political extremists.

Anderson is an adjunct professor at Columbia University's graduate school of journalism. He is also co-chairman of the Vietnamese Memorial Association, which builds elementary schools in Vietnam, and is a director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, which monitors attacks on the press around the world. He also serves on the board of the Westchester County Red Cross. He has received numerous awards, both for journalism and for community service and charitable work.