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Daniel Benjamin | |
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| 16thCoordinator for Counterterrorism | |
| In office May 28, 2009 – December 10, 2012 | |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Dell Dailey |
| Succeeded by | Tina S. Kaidanow |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1961-10-16)October 16, 1961 (age 64) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Harvard University New College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Diplomat, journalist |
Daniel Benjamin (born October 16, 1961) is an American diplomat and journalist and was theCoordinator for Counterterrorism at theUnited States Department of State from 2009 to 2012, appointed by Secretary Hillary Clinton.[1] Benjamin was the director of theJohn Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding atDartmouth College.[2] In July 2020, he became president of theAmerican Academy in Berlin, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, independent transatlantic institution in the German capital.[3]
Benjamin grew up inStamford, Conn., one of three sons (William Benjamin and Jonathan Benjamin) born to Burton and Susan Benjamin. His father is aninternist; his late mother was a teacher, an administrator at theUniversity of Connecticut and the head of marketing for a Manhattan law firm. They were a moderately observant Jewish family. Benjamin graduated fromHarvard Universitymagna cum laude, and then was a 1983Marshall Scholar atNew College, Oxford.[4] After college, he worked as a journalist forTime andThe Wall Street Journal.
From 1994 to 1999, as a member of President Clinton's staff, Benjamin served as a foreign policy speech writer and special assistant.[5] During that period, he also served on theNational Security Council.[6]
From 2009 to 2012, Benjamin was theUS State Department's Coordinator forcounter-terrorism, with the rank ofAmbassador-at-Large.[7]
Benjamin was a Senior Fellow in the International Security Program at theCenter for Strategic and International Studies.[8][9] He was also named a 2004Berlin prize fellow by theAmerican Academy in Berlin.
From December 2006 to May 2009, Benjamin served as the Director for the Center on the United States and Europe, and Senior Fellow of Foreign Policy Studies atThe Brookings Institution.[7]
In 2012, he was appointed the Norman E. McCulloch Jr. Director of the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College.[5]
Together withSteven Simon, Benjamin wroteThe Age of Sacred Terror (Random House, 2002), which documents the rise ofal Qaeda and religiously motivatedterrorism, as well as America's efforts to combat that threat. They review the history ofIslamist political thought fromibn Taymiyya in the 13th century, toal-Wahhab (the 18th century founder ofWahabbism) down tobin Laden. The danger, as they see it, is that "al Qaeda's belief system cannot be separated neatly from Islamic teachings, because it has -- selectively and perniciously -- built on fundamental Islamic ideas and principles." The second half of the book outlines the West's response. Ellen Laipson, in her review of the book, praises the authors for their study and methodology.[10]
Benjamin and Simon would follow upThe Age of Sacred Terror in 2005 withThe Next Attack: The Globalization of Jihad (Hodder & Soughton (in Britain), 2005), a book which received high-praise fromBill Clinton.
In the April 30, 2006 edition ofTime, Benjamin wrote a favorable profile ofPervez Musharraf, with the headline, "Why Pakistan's Leader May Be The West's Best Bet for Peace."
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