Join us in a conversation with investigative author, Todd Bensman.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at 12 PM (ET)
Dial 667-776-9181 (no code needed)
The status of our southern border and the economy, for many Americans, are the two most important issues as we move toward the 2024 election. Both issues, of course, are generated by the policies coming out of the Biden administration.
On Day 1 of Joe Biden’s term (I refuse to say first term, trusting that he will have only one), by the stroke of a pen, he tore to shreds the Trump policies that had adequately maintained the flow of immigrants across the Mexico border. He stopped the building of the wall, and he ended the Stay in Mexico policy that forced asylum seekers to do so in Mexico before being permitted to cross into the U.S.
Using the Covid pandemic as an excuse, President Biden engaged in a spending spree that ballooned the national debt and caused inflation to soar.
The astounding thing to me is that the causes of both issues have been implemented by this administration ON PURPOSE! Although claiming that the southern border is secure, thousands of people cross into this country unimpeded EVERY DAY! And they’re not just from Mexico, or even Central or South America! They are from Africa, the Middle East, and what is most troubling, Communist China!
Todd Bensman is an investigative author of the 2023 book “OVERRUN, How Joe Biden Unleashed the Greatest Border Crisis in U.S. History” and also “America’s Covert Border War: The Untold Story of the Nation’s Battle to Prevent Jihadist Infiltration.” The two-time National Press Club award winner, a former journalist of 23 years, currently serves as the Texas-based Senior National Security Fellow for the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), a Washington, D.C. policy institute for which he writes, speaks, and grants media interviews about the nexus between immigration and national security. He frequently reports from the southern border, traveling widely inside Mexico and in Central America. He has testified before Congress as an expert witness and regularly appears on radio and television outlets to discuss illegal immigration and border security matters.
He writes about homeland security and terrorism subjects for major newspapers, magazines, and other publications. He serves as a Writing Fellow for the Middle East Forum, and teaches terrorism, intelligence analysis, and journalism as a university adjunct lecturer.
For nearly a decade prior to joining CIS in August 2018, Bensman led counterterrorism intelligence for the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Intelligence and Counterterrorism Division and its multi-agency fusion center. Before his homeland security service, Bensman worked as a reporter for more than two decades, covering national security after 9/11 as an investigative staff writer for major newspapers.
In 2009, Bensman left journalism to join the Texas Department of Public Safety as a senior counterterrorism programs specialist, analyst, and manager of an analytical unit. He designed and directed collection operations that fed the Intelligence Community, prompted or advanced FBI counterterrorism investigations, and produced confidential human sources. And he oversaw intelligence support for Texas capitol complex security in Austin.
Until departing in 2018 after nine years, he routinely briefed DPS leadership, elected leaders, and members of Congress about domestic and international threats. Holding a DHS security clearance, Bensman worked frequently with FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces, ICE and its Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center, the National Targeting Center, DHS Intelligence & Analysis Division, and the National Counterterrorism Center.
Prior to his government service, Bensman worked for 23 years as a reporter and as a foreign correspondent in more than 30 countries. After 9/11, he began to specialize in national security and served on investigative teams, authoring long-form stories with emphases on homeland security, counterterrorism, the southern U.S. border, and Mexico’s drug wars. His reporting on migration from Islamic countries and cross-border gun smuggling to cartels earned two National Press Club awards, an Inter-American Press Association award, and two Texas Institute of Letters awards. His reporting on corruption also earned reporting plaudits after spurring numerous federal investigations, indictments, and convictions.
During the early 1990s, he reported on the Gulf War from Israel, Egypt, and Jordan. He went on to cover Eastern Europe from Prague and spent a year covering warfare in Bosnia, where he provided frequent dispatches from the siege of Sarajevo at the height of hostilities.
Bensman holds an M.A. in Security Studies from the Naval Postgraduate School, Center for Homeland Defense and Security. He also holds an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. He holds an undergraduate degree in journalism (with honors) from Northern Arizona University. In 2017, he completed a 350-hour State of Texas Command College leadership program sponsored by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Please join us for this stimulating, informative conversation.
