Foundation for Defense of Democracies

Leading Writers is an authors series sponsored by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Hosted by FDD Fellow Lee Smith, the forum brings together U.S. policymakers, the diplomatic corps, media, and the think tank community to discuss important ideas with authors of new books on national security and foreign policy.

Leading Writers latest event:

Bin Laden’s Legacy: Why We’re Still Losing the War on Terror

Tuesday October 18, 2011

In the decade since 9/11, the United States has been bogged down by costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  It has spent billions of dollars on security to protect transportation, and has ultimately grown weaker.

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross will discuss:

• What missteps has the United States made in the fight against al Qaeda?
• What should the U.S. do to change course?
• How can the investment in the fight against al Qaeda be most effective?
• How can the U.S. build domestic resiliency against terrorist attacks and escape the mistakes that have undermined America's war against its jihadist foes?

Foreign Policy wrote that Gartenstein-Ross' book creates “both a road map and a score card for the 10 years since the 9/11 attacks redefined America's sense of security.”

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross is the Director of the Center for the Study of Terrorist Radicalization at the FDD and is the author of Bin Laden’s Legacy (Wiley, 2011). He is a regular lecturer for the Naval Postgraduate School’s Leader Development and Education for Sustained Peace (LDESP) courses, providing instruction to members of the U.S. military preparing for deployments to the Horn of Africa, Afghanistan, or the Persian Gulf. He also designs training courses and specific modules for use by U.S. government agencies. Mr. Gartenstein-Ross also co-authored Homegrown Terrorists in the U.S. and U.K., which has been cited repeatedly in academic works.  His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Reader’s Digest, and The Wall Street Journal Europe, among others.

Lee Smith is a Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He is the author of the critically-acclaimed book, The Strong Horse: Power, Politics, and the Clash of Arab Civilizations (Doubleday, 2010). He contributes commentary to The New York Times, The New Republic, Slate.com, the Boston Globe, Wired, and The Weekly Standard, where he is a senior editor. Mr. Smith also writes a regular column for Tablet Magazine called, "Agents of Influence." He has been a guest on radio and television, including Fox News and National Public Radio. Mr. Smith has worked at a number of journals, magazines, and publishers including the Hudson Review, the Ecco- Press, Atheneum, Grand Street, GQ Magazine, and Talk Magazine.