Terrorism & Homeland Security

By Todd Bensman for The Heritage Foundation For more than three decades, the mystery of who blew Alas Chiricanas Flight 901 out of the Panama sky, killing all 21 aboard including 12 top Jewish business leaders and three U.S. citizens, remained unsolved and mostly forgotten by the outside world. The small commuter plane to Panama City exploded July 19, 1994, shortly after takeoff from Colon, … [Read more...] about Hezbollah Suspect in Forgotten ’94 Panama Suicide Bombing in Custody; Trial Could Inform U.S. of Fresh Backyard Threats

By Todd Bensman as published in The Daily Signal As America prepares to memorialize the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, expect a bright, glaring omission in the upcoming speeches, editorials, and televised survivor retrospectives about this history, important to tell for its warning that national vigilance remains necessary even now. Left on the cutting room floors … [Read more...] about On 25th Anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks, Many Will Cut the Most Relevant Truth From National Memory: Islamist Ideology Still Motivates Mass Murder

Washington, D.C. (January 9, 2025) – Todd Bensman's new three-part investigative series, along with a companion podcast (his media interviews and full stories here), document the first known charged terror attack in the United States committed by an illegal border-crosser, on October 26, 2024 in Chicago. The series, titled “First Blood: Anatomy of Border-Crosser’s Chicago Terror Attack,” includes … [Read more...] about ‘First Blood’: A 3-Part Series on a Border-Crosser’s Terror Attack Against Chicago’s Jewish Community

By Todd Bensman as published May 7, 2025 by The New York Post Nearly seven months have elapsed since an illegal immigrant from the Islamic Republic of Mauritania shot and wounded a visibly Orthodox Jewish man in the Chicago terror attack on October 26, then engaged police in a furious firefight while screaming the terrorist war cry “Allahu Akbar.” It was the first known – and formally … [Read more...] about NY Post: FBI finally investigating terror attack against Jews by illegal border crosser

By Todd Bensman as published April 11, 2025 by Town Hall Media Almost anything that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA) says or does tends to draw lightning from dismissive political opponents on the aisle’s other side. So too did her "Special Interest Alien Reporting Act" that just advanced in the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee. Her bill would require the Department of Homeland … [Read more...] about Town Hall: Marjorie Taylor Green’s Border Counterterrorism Idea: Her ‘Special Interest Aliens’ Bill Deserves Dem Support

Parsing Immigration Policy, Episode 194 Summary This week’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy reminds listeners of the threats that made President Trump's recent Executive Order, "Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats," necessary. The Center for Immigration Studies maintains a comprehensive database detailing examples … [Read more...] about Enhancing National Security: CIS Vetting Failure Database

On Inauguration Day 2025, President Donald Trump began signing a rack of executive orders establishing the highest, more pressing policy priorities of his young second administration, immigration and border security topping the list with 10 initial orders. Most of the executive orders attracted much media attention and analysis. But one of the most interesting and consequential of the orders … [Read more...] about Decoding Trump’s Border Counterterrorism Order, a 3-Part Analysis of the Most Interesting of Trump’s Executive Orders

Arrested for plot to bomb Israeli consulate in N.Y., adjudicators missed evidence of online extremism By Todd Bensman as published January 10, 2025 by the Center for Immigration Studies An 18-year-old Egyptian student at Virginia’s George Mason University who now stands charged with multiple terrorism offenses related to a mass casualty plot on Israel’s consulate in New York is the latest … [Read more...] about Egyptian Student Added to CIS National Security Vetting Failures Database

By Todd Bensman as published December 10, 2024 by the Center for Immigration Studies See also: Accidentally Released Border-Crossing Terror Suspect Added to CIS National Security Vetting Failures Database and: Convicted Border-Crossing Terrorist Added to the CIS National Security Vetting Failures Database An Afghan evacuee from the August 2021 fall of Kabul who stands charged with multiple … [Read more...] about Afghan Evacuee Added to Vetting Failures Database