MEF fellow
Todd Bensman
Milstein Writing Fellow
Opens an email to info@meforum.org with the request details laid out.
Profile
Todd Bensman is a Milstein writing fellow and investigative author. He served in 2025 to 2026 as senior adviser to the National Counterterrorism Center, border czar Tom Homan and ICE, and earlier managed a counterterrorism unit in Texas' public safety department. He wrote America's Covert Border War (2021), has testified before Congress and comments on national security, illegal immigration and border security.
Summarized from the MEF bio of Todd Bensman, read October 4, 2026.
Writes on: border security and immigration; terrorism and counterterrorism; Congress and legislation; the United States.
Topics are this site's tags, assigned from the subjects of Todd Bensman's bylined MEF pieces and the MEF bio.
MEF Work (126)
Bylined pieces published by the Middle East Forum, newest first, 2018 to 2026. Titles are quoted as MEF published them and link to the original on meforum.org.
Showing 126 of 126
2026 (2)
2025 (10)
- FBI Finally Investigating Terror Attack Against Jews by Illegal Border Crosser
- MTG's ‘Special Interest Aliens’ Bill Deserves Democrat Support
- Decoding Trump's Border Counterterrorism Order
- Decoding Trump’s Border Counterterrorism Order, Part 3
- Decoding Trump’s Border Counterterrorism Order, Part 2
- Decoding Trump’s Border Counterterrorism Order, Part 1
- Arrest of Egyptian Student for Mass Casualty Plot Marks Another Failure for National Security Vetting
- The Remedies: How to Lower the Risk of New Terror Strikes by Border-Crossing Islamist Extremists
- Mystery Terrorist: The Unknown Life and Violent Times of Illegal Border-Crosser Sidi Mohammed Abdallahi
- First Blood: Anatomy of Border-Crosser’s Chicago Terror Attack
2024 (16)
- Without a Reckoning, the First U.S. Terror Attack Caused by Open Borders Won’t Be the Last
- Trump to Revive Travel Ban on Terrorist-Plagued Countries
- Canada's Lax Immigration Laws Almost Led to 'Largest Attack Since 9/11'
- Convoluted Case of a Convicted Border-Crossing Terrorist Demonstrates Need for Transparency
- Counter-Terrorism Lapses at the Border Open U.S. to Attack
- Stopping Border-Crossing Terrorists Requires Political Will, not New Policies
- A Terrorist Just Illegally Crossed America's SW Border
- Calling It: America Just Suffered the First Terror Attack by a Border-Crossing Illegal Alien
- A Jordanian Who Crossed Border Illegally Tried to Force His Way into a U.S. Marine Base
- Why Biden's Gaza Refugee Plan Must Be Stopped
- Debunking the Argument for Columbia Journalism School's Terrorist Propagandist Memorial
- Columbia Univ. J-School Celebrates Hamas Propagandists and Alleged Terrorists
- Terrorists Welcome: Chronic Counterterrorism Lapses at the Border Demand Investigation and Congressional Intervention
- Biden Knows Terrorists Are Crossing the Border; Why Doesn't He Stop It?
- ISIS Plot to Assassinate George Bush Reminds Us the Border Crisis Security Threat Is Real
- The Road from Damascus: The Bloody History of Border Crossings from Syria
2023 (13)
- Are Borders Back in Europe?
- 'Attachment A' Is a Roadmap to Hamas Enablers in the US, Is the FBI Paying Attention?
- Biden Administration Secretly Let in Thousands of Unvetted Migrants from 'Countries of National Security Concern'
- Thousands of 'Special Interest Aliens' Posing Potential National Security Risks Entering via CBP One App
- What to Make of CNN's Exclusive about an ISIS Smuggler Who Moved Uzbeks over the Border
- H-1B Doctor's Jihadist Plot: How Well Do We Vet Visa Applicants?
- The Treasonous Story of a U.S. Soldier Turned Jihadist
- U.S. Border Crisis Puts Nation at Risk of Terrorism -- A Case Study
- Tehran Slaps America's Face as Biden's 'Deal' Moves Forward
- Former FBI Analyst Exposed America to Jihadists
- Open U.S. Border Entices Jihadists -- The Plot to Kill Bush
- Iranians in Car Trunks at the U.S. Border; Never a Good Thing
- The Empty Promise of 'Rigorous Security Vetting' in New Migrant Border-Crossing Program
2022 (5)
- Tijuana's Mosque and the Open Road to California
- Record Number of Suspected Terrorists Crossed the U.S., Mexico Border
- About the Iraqi Asylum Seeker Who Allegedly Wanted to Import an ISIS Terrorist Hit Squad
- U.S. Government Now Publishing Terrorist Watch List Encounters at American Land Borders
- About Those 42 Terrorists Who Crossed the American Southern Border
2021 (16)
- CBP: Migrants from Terror-Plagued Regions Are Crossing the Southern Border
- Selective Memory: The Carefully Excised "WHY" of the 9/11 Attacks
- Limits on Afghan Refugees Mean Little Given Our Open Southern Border
- Europe's Terrorism Report Has Lessons for Americans
- Extra-continental Migrants Flooding U.S. Border Pose National Security Concern
- The Biden Administration Blocks Scrutiny of Jihadi Visitors
- Amid Media Silence, Congressman Asks FBI Chief about Border-Jumping Yemenis
- Minnesota Military Linguist Ensnared in Honeypot "Abandoned Her Country" for Hizballah
- The Threat of Border-Crossing Migrants on Terror Watch List Is Real
- Landmark Confirmation of Border Threat
- The Afrasiabi Affair: Media Outlets Silent About Publishing Alleged Covert Iranian Agent
- Europe's Migrant Crisis, Still Yielding Terror, Foretells the Effects of Biden's Border-Crossing Boom
- 'Extra-Continental' Migrants throughout the Americas Marching and Clashing Their Way Toward New Biden Border
- 11 Iranians Captured at US-Mexico Border
- A Border Threat So Taboo That Few Dare Speak of It
- Americans Will Soon Rue Biden's Ending the 13-Country Travel Ban
2020 (21)
- Wave of 'Extra-Continental' Migrants Predicted in Biden's First Year
- WaPo Story on 'Muslim Ban" Perpetuates Erroneous Partisan Narrative
- Guatemala's Terrorist Designation of Hezbollah Explained
- Ending Trump Travel Ban Spells Trouble
- FBI "Actively Pursues" a Possible Hezbollah '94 Plane Bombing
- Terrorist Knifer in France Illegally Crossed EU Border with Migrants
- U.S.-Bound Yemeni Migrants and Their Smuggler Busted in Brazil
- Brazil Busts Top Smuggler of Iranian Migrants to the U.S.
- The Challenge of Repatriating American ISIS Fighters
- Jihadi Waltzes into US; Vile Facebook Posts Blow His Cover
- Europe Suffers from a New Global Terror Tactic
- Arrest of Released Terror Convict Highlights Threat of Jihadi Recidivism
- How the Corpus Christi Jihadi Attacker Entered the United States
- Europe's Most-Wanted Jihadist Crossed into EU Disguised as an Asylum-Seeker
- Traitor for Hezbollah: Minnesota Linguist Lured by "Honeypot" Spy Scheme
- Pakistani Doctor in Minnesota Indicted for Jihadi Plot
- Lessons from the Islamist Migrant Terror Plot against U.S. Air Force in Germany
- Americans Need Protection from Jihadi Doctors
- Why Bangladeshi Migrants Illegally Entering the U.S. Pose a Security Risk
- U.S. Lays Out Welcome Mat for Middle Eastern and Other "Extra-Continental" Migrants
- Soleimani's Network of Sleeper Agents in the Americas
2019 (41)
- Did The U.S. Kill An American Citizen After Taking Out ISIS Leader Al-Baghdadi?
- Like in Europe, America's Broken Asylum System Enables Islamist Infiltration
- Secret U.S. Efforts in Latin America Keep Jihadis Out
- Hold Off: Designating Mexican Cartels as Terrorists Could Dilute War on Jihadists
- Mexico-based Jordanian Smuggler of Six Yemenis Sentenced in Texas
- Ecuador a Linchpin in Fight against Terrorist Migration
- The First Illegal U.S.-Border-Crossing Terrorist Is on Trial
- Mexico Struggles with Influx of U.S.-Bound Eastern Hemisphere Migrants
- Appellate Court Throws Out Terrorist's Lenient Sentence
- DHS Must Investigate Somali Terrorist Who Crossed U.S. Southern Border
- U.S.-Mexico Busts of Bangladeshi Smugglers South of the Border
- Where Is the Promised Investigation of Iran's Deadly Panama Bombing?
- Ecuador: An Unlikely Battleground to Secure America's Southern Border
- Smugglers of Mideast Migrants to US Busted in Brazil
- A Most-Wanted American Jihadist Is Caught in Mexico
- Sumaiya Ali May Become First Convicted Terrorist Released under First Step Act
- No, Anti-Terrorism Efforts Haven't Hampered Investigations Of White Supremacists
- Getting Smuggled from Afghanistan to Texas Is Easier than You Think
- Major Smuggler of Immigrants from Mideast, Africa Arrested in Costa Rica
- Tough Post-9/11 Terrorism Sentencing Laws Under Assault
- Suspected ISIS Operatives Disguised as Migrants Caught in Nicaragua
- Report: ISIS Planned to Enter US, Create Economic Chaos
- How to Reduce the Threat of Released Jihadis
- Why Iran's Cash Crunch Isn't Disabling Hezbollah Yet
- Why the Case of Jordanian-Mexican Smuggler Who Transported Yemenis over the Texas Border Is Important
- Extreme Vetting: Still a Dream
- A Bizarre View of Justice for American ISIS Terrorist
- Did the Maryland Terrorism Suspect Have Ongoing Ties with Jihadists in His Native Trinidad?
- All In The Family: ISIS Edition
- ISIS Commander Arrested in Hungary Held Refugee Passport Enabling Unrestricted Air Travel
- Yemenis Smuggled over Texas Border Wearing Hard-Hats and Reflective Vests
- What Became of the Obama-Era Program to Counter Terrorist Infiltration at the Southern Border?
- Against the Evidence, Media Keeps Insisting Terrorists Aren't Crossing the Southern Border
- Did Panama Ever Reopen Its Investigation Into the Flight 901 Bombing?
- What Happened to the Texan Who Became the Goebbels of ISIS?
- Prayer Rugs at the Mexican Border: How Important?
- Every Last One: Another Prosecution of the Garland, Texas Terror Attack Starts Next Month
- Congressional Committee Calls for Investigation of First Terror Attack by Border-Crossing Migrant
- Trump and the GOP Were Hardly the First to Worry About "Special Interest Alien" Smuggling to the Southwest Border
- House Homeland Security Committee Releases Special Report on Terrorist Border Infiltration Threat
- Central American Countries Are Helping Middle Easterners Illegally Enter the United States
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