Since 9/11, more than three hundred Americans – born and raised in Minnesota, Alabama, New Jersey, and elsewhere – have been indicted or convicted of terrorism charges. Among the perpetrators are Anwar al-Awlaki, the New Mexico-born radical cleric who became the first American citizen killed by a CIA drone, and Omar Hammami, an Alabama native and hip hop fan who became a fixture in al Shabaab’s propaganda videos.

While some have taken the fight abroad, many others have acted on American soil, sparking new debates not only about extremist violence but about the controversial surveillance tactics used by U.S. government agencies to track potential terrorists, the biases experienced by innocent observant Muslims at the hands of law enforcement, and the role social media has played in revolutionizing terrorist activity.

Drawing on an extensive network of intelligence contacts, from the National Counterterrorism Center and the FBI to the NYPD, Peter Bergen’s United States of Jihad: Investigating America’s Homegrown Terrorists takes on these topics by telling the entwined stories of the key actors of the American front of jihadism and by asking: what motivates them, how are they trained, and what do we sacrifice in our efforts to track them?

Join New America for the launch event of Peter Bergen’s United States of Jihad: Investigating America’s Homegrown Terrorists. Copies of the book will be available for purchase. Follow the discussion online using #USofJihad and by following @NewAmericaNYC.

PARTICIPANTS

Peter Bergen
Vice President & Director, International Security Program, New America
National Security Analyst, CNN
Author, United States of Jihad: Investigating America’s Homegrown Terrorists
@peterbergencnn

Karen Greenberg
Director, Center on National Security, Fordham University School of Law
Author, The Least Worst Place: Guantanamo’s First 100 Days
@KarenGreenberg3