Articles

Time to declare victory: al Qaeda is defeated EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a series of opinion articles about national security by participants in the upcoming Aspen Security Forum. Security Clearance is a media sponsor of the event which is taking place from July 25-28 in Aspen, Colorado. By Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst To end […]

Obama leak ‘scandal’ is wildly overblown By Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst updated 9:05 AM EDT, Wed June 20, 2012 A U.S. Predator unmanned drone armed with a missile sets off from its hangar at Bagram Air Base on November 27, 2009. STORY HIGHLIGHTS Mitt Romney, others have called for special prosecutor on national security […]

Obama ramps up covert war in Yemen By Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst, and Jennifer Rowland, Special to CNN updated 10:15 AM EDT, Mon June 11, 2012 STORY HIGHLIGHTS U.S. drone attacks in Yemen haven’t received as much attention as in Pakistan Dozens of airstrikes have killed hundreds, mostly AQAP terrorists, the authors say […]

And now, only one senior al Qaeda leader left By Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst updated 5:48 AM EDT, Wed June 6, 2012 Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who senior US counter terrorism officials call the only leader of consequence left. STORY HIGHLIGHTS Al Qaeda’s number two leader was killed in a CIA drone strike […]

By Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst May 16, 2012 — Updated 1605 GMT (0005 HKT) President Obama talks with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. Pakistan has accepted NATO’s invitation to the Chicago summit. STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: Pakistan to attend NATO summit Obama hosts G8 conference at Camp David, then NATO summit in Chicago […]

By Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst May 11, 2012 — Updated 1602 GMT (0002 HKT) Peter Bergen says much of the key evidence leading to bin Laden wasn’t produced by coercive interrogations. STORY HIGHLIGHTS Peter Bergen: CIA learned of al Qaeda operative “the Kuwaiti” through harsh interrogation He says another series of interrogations determined […]

Magazine The Last Days of Osama bin Laden By Peter Bergen Monday, May 07, 2012 Early on the morning of May 2, 2011, the residents of Osama bin Laden’s heavily fortified compound were startled awake by the sound of explosions. Bin Laden’s daughter Maryam, 20, rushed upstairs to his top-floor bedroom to ask what was […]

May 04, 2012|By Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst President Barack Obama announces the death of Osama bin Laden a year ago. At a campaign event Monday in New Hampshire, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney asserted that he too would have made the decision to send a U.S. Navy SEAL team to kill Osama bin […]

A visit to Osama bin Laden’s lair By Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst May 3, 2012 — Updated 1137 GMT (1937 HKT) A local man walks through a field near Osama Bin Laden’s compound, where he was killed during a raid by U.S. special forces a year ago. STORY HIGHLIGHTS Peter Bergen was only […]

Opinion Warrior in Chief By PETER L. BERGEN Published: April 28, 2012 169 Comments THE president who won the Nobel Peace Prize less than nine months after his inauguration has turned out to be one of the most militarily aggressive American leaders in decades. Illustration by Connor Willumsen, photograph by Stephen Crowley/The New York Times […]