Terrorism

Reassessing the Evolving al Qaeda Threat to the Homeland

Chairwoman Harman, committee members, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My testimony aims to address the evolving threat from al Qaeda to the homeland, to include the threat from al Qaeda itself, groups affiliated or allied to al Qaeda, and those "homegrown" militants influenced by al Qaeda ideas who have no connections to any formal jihadist group. This testimony does not aim to be exhaustive but to cover the most serious cases of recent years and to provide some overall threat assessment.

Peter Bergen | November 19, 2009

Revenge of the Drones

As a result of the unprecedented 41 drone strikes into Pakistan authorized by the Obama administration, aimed at Taliban and al Qaeda networks based there, about a half-dozen leaders of militant organizations have been killed--including two heads of Uzbek terrorist groups allied with al Qaeda, and Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban--in addition to hundreds of lower-level militants and civilians, according to our analysis.[1]

Peter Bergen, Katherine Tiedemann | October 19, 2009

Confronting al Qaeda: Understanding the Threat in Afghanistan and Beyond

Senator Kerry, Senator Lugar and other members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today.

Peter Bergen | October 7, 2009

A Meaningless Election

Let me say at the beginning that I do not think that the existing mess in Afghanistan at present is the fault of the Obama administration. The president inherited it from George Bush, and simply did not have time between taking power in January and the Afghan elections of this month to carry out a radical change of course. If, however, the administration fails to change course after the (predictable) debacle that these elections have become, then the responsibility for subsequent disasters will indeed rest with President Obama… more

Anatol Lieven | The National Interest | September 3, 2009

Clinton Vows US Help in War on Al Qaeda in Somalia | CNN

Somalia is not new territory for al Qaeda, according to CNN's terrorism analyst Peter Bergen. "Al Qaeda was running training camps in Somalia in the early ...
Peter Bergen | August 6, 2009

US Spurned Iran Offers to Turn Over Bin Laden's Son | TIME

But terrorism analyst Peter Bergen, author of the book Holy War Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden, points out that having Saan bin Laden in ...
Peter Bergen | July 30, 2009

Incongruities in NC Terrorism Case | CQPolitics.com

Back in 1991, Steve Coll, a future Pulitzer Prize winner for his reporting from Pakistan, encountered Daniel Boyd, his wife and his brother in Peshawar. ...
Steve Coll | July 29, 2009

Daniel Boyd and Homegrown Terrorism | Public Radio International

Peter Bergen, a fellow at the New America Foundation and author of "Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden," says this case is different ...
Peter Bergen | July 28, 2009

How Many Gitmo Prisoners Return to Fight?

As President Obama awaits formal recommendations this month on issues surrounding the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, it is crucial that policymakers and the public have an accurate picture of the threat to the United States posed by those detainees already released.