Todd Bensman

From Journalism to Counterterrorism Intelligence - and Back.

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8-Part Series: CIS Investigates Terror Travel Threat in Panama and Costa Rica

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LINK TO THE SERIES HERE President Donald Trump's claims that Middle Eastern migrants were traveling Central American routes to the U.S. border, among them some Islamic terrorists, spawned a confused national debate that never quite moved past disputes over just the basic facts. Such as: Can, have, and do migrants from countries of terrorism concern, where Islamic terrorist groups operate, … [Read more...] about 8-Part Series: CIS Investigates Terror Travel Threat in Panama and Costa Rica

Gunrunning to Mexico Part III: Buyers remorseless

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How “straw purchasers” in the U.S. find a big bang for their buck for Mexico’s drug thugs Former DEA agent Celerino Castillo pled guilty to dealing guns without a federal license after ATF agents caught him hiring a “straw buyer” to purchase guns favored by cartels Photo by Todd Bensman Crucial to the flow of guns into Mexico are networks of straw buyers — U.S. citizens with clean criminal … [Read more...] about Gunrunning to Mexico Part III: Buyers remorseless

Gunrunning to Mexico Part II: The sellers: merchants torn between profit and conscience

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How flexible laws, a blissful ignorance and profit motive enable U.S. gun retailers to feed Mexico’s bloody civil war Diana Villarreal of “Mando’s Guns and Ammo” Photo by Jerry Lara International gun trafficking prosecutions against licensed gun dealers are relatively rare. The law provides more protection to sellers than to any other part of the supply chain delivering weapons to Mexico’s … [Read more...] about Gunrunning to Mexico Part II: The sellers: merchants torn between profit and conscience

Gunrunning to Mexico Part I: Gunrunner’s Land of Plenty

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These stories document Mexico’s black market hunger for American guns. The hidden cross-border trade is hardly a new phenomenon and for decades has occupied a back burner in the national policies of both countries. But with Mexico’s drug war body count surpassing 6,000 in a single year, 2008, a figure that almost flatters the number of American dead in Iraq, the weapons smuggling issue has been … [Read more...] about Gunrunning to Mexico Part I: Gunrunner’s Land of Plenty

On Conservative Conscience: discussing Hungarian policies that stopped mass migration

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Description of April 4, 2019 episode: "Today I'm joined by Todd Bensman, national security fellow for the Center for Immigration Studies, to discuss the findings of his latest trip to tour Hungary’s border wall. Todd gives us the history of the great Middle Eastern migration into Europe in 2014 and how Hungary and several neighboring countries dealt with it. Yes, they built a wall, but they also … [Read more...] about On Conservative Conscience: discussing Hungarian policies that stopped mass migration

On Secure Freedom Radio: cutting aid to Central America is right and good

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Frank Gaffney's Secure Freedom Radio and Podcast interviews Bensman about Yemenis crossing the Texas border, President Trump's withdrawal of aid to Central America, and border security matters related to Central Americans. Listen to the podcast here. … [Read more...] about On Secure Freedom Radio: cutting aid to Central America is right and good

Exclusive: ISIS Commander Arrested in Hungary Held Refugee Passport Enabling Unrestricted Air Travel

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A savage ISIS decapitator arrested in Hungary somehow got his hands on a refugee passport that gave him unrestricted air travel privileges, a senior Hungarian government official told me in an exclusive interview in Budapest. As ISIS fighters and supporters scatter to an unmapped diaspora, the question is raised: who else among them might be achieving the legal ability to travel freely in Europe - … [Read more...] about Exclusive: ISIS Commander Arrested in Hungary Held Refugee Passport Enabling Unrestricted Air Travel

Twitter series on mandatory catch-and-release stirs coverage and controversy but settled nothing

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Daniel Horowitz of The Conservative Review was among several journalists who wrote about a series of my tweets during the first week of March 2019, which chocked up hundreds of thousands of impressions after the likes of Michelle Malkin and Anne Coulter, followers of my account, retweeted them. The tweets were based on secret verbal policy orders that a credible U.S. Citizen and Immigration … [Read more...] about Twitter series on mandatory catch-and-release stirs coverage and controversy but settled nothing