Daniel Benjamin

"I can tell you now, after having access to the intelligence again, that the threat has become far more complicated due to the proliferation of groups and the cross-pollination of networks," he told a conference in late 2009. "The global radical milieu has become thicker. There is so much more that we have to keep tabs on than there was in 1999."

Al-Qaeda

As a part of the Obama administration, Benjamin says his main objective is to "disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al-Qaeda and its allies."

While al-Qaeda's reputation has suffered in parts of Iraq and Pakistan after its indiscriminate targeting of Muslim civilians and denunciations from Muslim clerics, Benjamin said the group is an evolving threat.

He said it has become stronger in ungoverned or under-governed areas and has adapted to local tribal parties in Yemen, Somalia, and Afghanistan. He said these factors, along with the radicalization, recruitment, and training of American Muslims, will prove to be one of the administrations great current and future threats.

New Threats

Benjamin argues state-sponsored terrorism is no longer a great threat to the U.S. and Europe. Instead, he says non-state actors pose a greater threat.

Benjamin is also focused on terrorist groups other than al-Qada intent on causing mass-casualties. At a conference at the end of 2009, Benjamin identified the group Lashkar e-Taiba as one of his greatest concerns.

"Very few things worry me as much as the strength and ambition of LeT, a truly malign present in South Asia," he said. "We are working closely with allies in the region and elsewhere to reduce the threat from this very dangerous group."

Self-starters or "home-grown terrorists" also pose a great threat he says. He says these individuals are often inspired by Osama bin Laden and his followers but are not linked with al-Qaeda. They are often self-recruited and self-trained over the Internet.

As technology makes it easier for individuals to prepare deadly biological and even nuclear weapons, the threat of self-starter terrorists increases, he said.

Muslim Community Outreach

Benjamin says dealing with "longstanding greivences in the Muslim community" is central to combating terrorism. In his job, Benjamin is working with allied governments, local leaders, private businesses, and non-governmental groups to build stronger personal relationships to help clarify U.S. motives and debunk myths. In March 2010 testimony he said, "Building personal relationships and deepening existing cultural and economic ties are some of the best ways to dispel misperceptions about U.S. interests and motives. Immigrant and youth populations should be treated not as threats to defend against, but as communities of potential partners who can play a lead role in changing our world for the better."

Religious Extremism

Benjamin warned about the threat of religious extremism and terrorism before September 11th brought the issue to the national consciousness.

"New religiously motivated terrorism that was not constrained by limits on its violence, and the changes in motivation, tools, and weaponry could elevate terrorism from the level of tactical nuisance to strategic threat," he wrote in 2000.

In 2002, Benjamin wrote "Age of Sacred Terror" with co-author Steve Simon, about the shift in foreign-policy focus during the Clinton administration as terrorism became a more urgemt threat.

Benjamin said the nature of religiously-motivated terrorism requires a different approach than terrorism motivated by a political agenda.

"When you believe that one of the key audiences for your violence is not on earth, there's an entirely different structure to behavior and to the violence," he said in an interview at UC Berkley. "I think it's precisely this focus on the otherworldly that is so important and that makes this kind of violence so worrisome."

Benjamin argues that this mindset makes the enemy less tangible because unlike past conflicts, "our foe is, first and foremost, a social movement."

In light of this situation, Benjamin says U.S. foreign policy should be focused on undermining the argument rather than on capturing or killing individuals.

Iraq War

Benjamin was a vocal critic of the Bush administration and the Iraq war, which he said only worsened the threat of terrorism around the world and in the U.S.

In 2006, Benjamin wrote a Washington Post op-ed titled "Of Course Iraq Made it Worse."

"No doubt the United States would have had a serious struggle against radial Islam after Sept. 11 under any circumstances. But the occupation of Iraq, by appearing to confirm bin Laden's arguments about America's antipathy toward the Muslim world, had had an incendiary effect and made matters dramatically worse," they wrote. "The invasion of Iraq was the wrong answer to the terrorist challenge, for which we will pay a high price for years to come."

Benjamin said there was never evidence to link then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to the 9/11 plot. In an interview with PBS' Newshour in 2004, Benjamin said the Bush administration "pursued a well thought out strategy of associated the two at virtually every opportunity."

"There was a reason why 70 percent of the American people believed that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11, and that is because the administration time after time put the two of them together in the same framework."

The confirmation of the terrorists' narrative makes combating radical Islamist terrorism more of a challenge, he said.

"In it's most barebones formulation, that narrative holds that America and its allies seek to occupy Muslims' lands, steal their oil wealth and destroy their faith," Benjamin said in testimony to the House Armed Services Committee in 2007.

The war in Iraq also produced more terrorists, said Benjamin, many who came to Iraq intent on fighting U.S. and coalition forces and others he categorizes as "Iraqi jihadists who emerged from the turmoil."

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