Benjamin on the bin Laden Files

Dickey Center Director Daniel Benjamin has been interviewed by numerous media outlets since the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a trove of files seized during the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A sampling follows: 

USA Today, May 20, 2015

"He was still very much focused on the notion of driving the U.S. out of the Middle East and broader Muslim world through a catastrophic attack," Benjamin said. "He kept telling people to attack US embassies."

LA Times, May 20, 2015

Bin Laden “was a bit of an international relations policy wonk,” said Daniel Benjamin. The Al Qaeda leader's papers “suggest he was smart enough to be interested in how his enemy thought and functioned.” 

Foreign Policy, May 20, 2015

About the content of the files and in comparison to the Islamic State's strategy: “The Islamic State is much more opportunistic,” former State Department counterterrorism director Daniel Benjamin told Foreign Policy Wednesday. “Osama bin Laden was more attuned to the history of Islamic extremism and really wanted to target Americans.”

 

Benjamin also was quoted in Bloomberg Business and appeared on Andrea Mitchell Reports.