United States of Jihad: Homegrown Terrorism After Orlando
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On June 12th, the United States suffered its most deadly terrorist attack since 9/11 and most deadly mass shooting in history when Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old American citizen and Florida resident, entered Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, and shot and killed 49 people, wounding 53 others with a handgun and assault rifle. In a 911 call, Mateen pledged allegiance to ISIS, and ISIS news outlets soon began to claim him. What does the Orlando attack mean for the way we understand jihadist terrorism? How is it that 15 years after 9/11, Americans are still killing their fellow citizens and citing Bin Laden’s ideology? In United States of Jihad, Peter Bergen investigates the Americans who have been accused of jihadist terrorism since 9/11, providing a lens into these important questions.
Peter Bergen is a print, television and web journalist, documentary producer, vice president at New America, CNN national security analyst, professor of practice at Arizona State University, and the author or editor of seven books, three of which were New York Times bestsellers and three of which were named among the best non-fiction books of the year by The Washington Post. The books have been translated into twenty languages. Documentaries based on his books have been nominated for two Emmys and also won the Emmy for best documentary in 2013.
Follow the discussion online using #UnitedStatesofJihad and following @NewAmericaISP.
Copies of the United States of Jihad will be available for purchase.
Participants:
Peter Bergen
Director, New America International Security program
@peterbergencnn
Alyssa Sims
Research Assistant, New America International Security program
@AGSims1
Moderator:
David Sterman
Senior Program Associate, New America International Security program
@DSterms