Armed Conflict Terrorism & Extremism

Lawfare Daily: A Progress Report on the War on Terrorism with Peter Bergen

Daniel Byman, Peter Bergen, Jen Patja
Tuesday, October 6, 2026, 7:00 AM
Peter Bergen discusses his new book “All the Presidents' Wars: Twenty-Five Years of America's War on Terror.” 

Lawfare Foreign Policy Editor Daniel Byman sits down with Peter Bergen, author of “All the Presidents' Wars: Twenty-Five Years of America's War on Terror,” to discuss counterterrorism in the 25 years after 9/11, reviewing the many mistakes the United States and al-Qaeda made, as well as some of the surprising successes. Peter also draws lessons from the war in Iran today for how to better respond to a future terrorist attack.

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Daniel Byman is a professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and the director of the Warfare, Irregular Threats, and Terrorism Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.
Peter Bergen is a vice president at New America and a national security analyst for CNN. He is the author of "The Rise and Fall of Osama Bin Laden" and "Trump and His Generals."
Jen Patja is the editor of the Lawfare Podcast and Rational Security, and serves as Lawfare’s Director of Audience Engagement. Previously, she was Co-Executive Director of Virginia Civics and Deputy Director of the Center for the Constitution at James Madison's Montpelier, where she worked to deepen public understanding of constitutional democracy and inspire meaningful civic participation.
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