She Warned Us: Intelligence Analyst Gina Bennett on her 1993 bin Laden Report and the Rise of Al Qaeda and Jihadi Terrorism

In this week's episode, we interview Gina Bennett, a senior intelligence analyst who has spent her career focusing on counterterrorism with the CIA's Senior Analytic Service, and is most well known for authoring the 1993 report that warned about the growing danger of Osama bin Laden and his jihadi movement. Gina discusses the warning signs she saw in her analysis that pointed to the growing prominence of bin Laden in the 1990s in the immediate post-Soviet era, and outlines why those warnings were largely neglected. Gina, who was at CIA HQ on 9/11, reflects on the days leading up to the attacks, and provides her take on bin Laden's leadership style and why al Qaeda has been so adaptable. She also outlines why the 'root causes' of terrorism are what sustain terrorism, despite whatever leadership may exist, and how al Qaeda was able to spread its ideology so easily. We close out the conversation with a discussion on diversity in the CIA and the broader Intelligence Community. Gina, who authored the book National Security Mom and is involved with the organization Girl Security, talks about how her skillsets as a mother and as a woman have colored her analysis, and why empowering different types of thinking is crucial to national security, but not present in current policy and political circles.