A consequential legal battle is underway with potential to decide whether tough post-9/11 sentencing laws will remain in place. Those who join and aid jihadist terror groups like ISIS, and (believe it or not) their supporters, hope against hope for as little consequence as possible when terrorists get caught. Homeland security leaders, federal prosecutors, and perhaps most Members of Congress … [Read more...] about Tough Post-9/11 Terrorism Sentencing Laws Under Assault
Terrorism and Homeland Security
Bensman Testifies before Congress on Law Enforcement’s Fight Against White Supremacy and Domestic Terrorism
I testified before the House Oversight and Reform Committee about my experience combating domestic extremism while working for the Texas Department of Public Safety. The testimony took place Tuesday, June 4, 2019 in the Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. The topic of testimony for two panels (mine was the second) was "White Supremacy, Adequacy of the Federal … [Read more...] about Bensman Testifies before Congress on Law Enforcement’s Fight Against White Supremacy and Domestic Terrorism
How to Make Sure Many Other Terrorists Like John Walker Lindh Pose No Threat After Release
Convicted terrorist John Walker Lindh was released from prison a week ago. What's the government doing to make sure former terrorists don't reoffend? Answer: pretty much nothing. America is at the mercy of released former (or formerly incarcerated, at least) terrorists. By Todd Bensman as originally published in The Federalist on May 30, 2019 The May 23 release from federal prison of John … [Read more...] about How to Make Sure Many Other Terrorists Like John Walker Lindh Pose No Threat After Release
Why Iran’s Cash Crunch Hasn’t Disabled Hezbollah
The Post and Times report that Hezbollah is suffering financial hardship these days. But left unsaid by is that Hezbollah achieved significant financial autonomy from Iran more than a decade ago. Starting in about 2006, it moved into Latin America and hit it very big in the international cocaine trafficking industry. Wobbly finances actually are nothing new to Hezbollah. It went to Latin America … [Read more...] about Why Iran’s Cash Crunch Hasn’t Disabled Hezbollah
Could Sri Lanka’s Intelligence Failure Happen to a Distracted US Homeland Security Enterprise?
The Sri Lanka attacks revealed a massive intelligence failure. Why should any of this matter to American homeland security leaders in the Donald Trump administration? Because change and turnover is afoot. And history shows how deceptively easy it is to slip into old habits, with time but also when rapid change is occurring. By Todd Bensman, originally published by Townhall on April 28, … [Read more...] about Could Sri Lanka’s Intelligence Failure Happen to a Distracted US Homeland Security Enterprise?
A Federal Judge’s Bizarre Views of Justice for American ISIS Terrorist and the Bereaved Mother of His Victim
Houston-based National Security Division prosecutors appealed a light sentence against a convicted terrorist after Reagan-appointed District Judge Lynn Hughes scoffed at their arguments, expressed paternal sympathy for the convicted terrorist, and dismissed input from the dead victim’s bereaved mother (present in court) as “only her grief…sad but not cogent.” By Todd Bensman as originally … [Read more...] about A Federal Judge’s Bizarre Views of Justice for American ISIS Terrorist and the Bereaved Mother of His Victim
All in the ISIS Family; How the Terror Group Destroyed a Suburban Texas Family
Were the brothers Arman and Omar Ali to come home to Plano right now from Syria's battlefields, they would find their ISIS-simpatico parents in federal custody and maybe even join them there. Fealty to the Islamist ideal has left the Ali family unit a ruin, its pretty $450,000 brick home empty, and 14-year-old little sister and daughter in enhanced teen angst with relatives in Houston. Meanwhile, … [Read more...] about All in the ISIS Family; How the Terror Group Destroyed a Suburban Texas Family
The Hero Texas Cop Who Killed Two ISIS Terrorists Mid-Attack
JUNE 16, 2016 BY TODD BENSMAN I enjoyed the honor of nominating Garland Police Department Officer Gregory Stevens for the Texas Department of Public Safety’s “Director’s Award,” the agency’s highest for non-DPS personnel, for his heroic actions of May 3, 2015 and then the satisfaction of witnessing his receipt of it to a crowded, standing ovation. It happened at DPS headquarters this … [Read more...] about The Hero Texas Cop Who Killed Two ISIS Terrorists Mid-Attack
What Happened to the Texan Who Became the Goebbels of ISIS?
By Todd Bensman, originally published January 21, 2019 in PJ Media A few years ago, a Texas resident who was born, raised, and educated in my state of Texas -- and whose parents, ex-wife, and four children still reside here -- reportedly became the chief propagandist for ISIS in Syria. John Thomas Georgelas, son of a prosperous U.S. Air Force doctor, ascended to his senior position because the … [Read more...] about What Happened to the Texan Who Became the Goebbels of ISIS?
Exclusive Report: A Promised Panama Investigation of Iran-Hezbollah for ’94 Plane Bombing Likely Suppressed
On a reporting trip to Panama in December 2018, Bensman checked up on a promised investigation of Iranian-Hezbollah involvement in the 1994 bombing of Las Chiricanas Flight 901, which killed 12 Panamanian Jews. He came home with strong doubts that any such investigation was happening. As published in The Federalist January 23, 2019 See November 9, 2020 … [Read more...] about Exclusive Report: A Promised Panama Investigation of Iran-Hezbollah for ’94 Plane Bombing Likely Suppressed