Son of Ben Wattenberg. Daniel Wattenberg left his music career in 1983 to join the US State Department. He was first assigned to the embassy in Paris before being called back to Foggy Bottom to serve as a speechwriter for Elliott Abrams. After the Iran-Contra scandal, he left public service to work as a journalist. He joined the staff of The Washington Times, and became one of the founding staffers of its spinoff, Insight on the News. In the early 1990s, he moved on to the magazine American Spectator where he collaborated with David Brock on a number of exposés of Bil and Hillary Clinton. Managing editor of Just the News and author of "Decatur's Wake", a Kindle Single, he is a widely cited, award-winning cultural essayist, columnist, critic, investi- gative writer and editor. His work has appeared widely in print and online at outlets including Atlantic. com, the American Spectator, Playboy, Reason, the Weekly Standard, National Review, Forbes FYI, George, Civilization, the New York Post and the Washington Times. He served in the State Department in the bureaus of Inter- American Affairs and Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs and in the United States Information Agency at the U.S. Mission to UNESCO and the U.S. Embassy in Paris. He worked in the Merchant Marine in the engine room of a container ship. As the lead singer of punk-era New York bands, he appeared often at the historic CBGB and opened for the Ramones.