Editing Daniel Benjamin

{{Short description|American diplomat and journalist}}
{{BLP sources|date=March 2010}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = 
| name                = Daniel Benjamin
| honorific-suffix    = 
| image               = Daniel Benjamin.jpg
| imagesize           = 
| alt                 = 
| office1             = 16th [[Coordinator for Counterterrorism]]
| term_start1         = May 28, 2009
| term_end1           = December 10, 2012
| predecessor1        = [[Dell Dailey]]
| successor1          = [[Tina S. Kaidanow]]
| president1          = [[Barack Obama]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1961|10|16|mf=y}}
| birth_place         = 
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| restingplace        = 
| restingplacecoordinates = 
| nationality         = American
| party               = 
| spouse              = 
| relations           = 
| children            = 
| residence           = 
| alma_mater          = [[Harvard University]] <br/> [[New College, Oxford]]
| occupation          = Diplomat, journalist
| profession          = 
| religion            = 
| signature           = 
| signature_alt       = 
| website             = 
}}
'''Daniel Benjamin''' (born October 16, 1961) is an American diplomat and journalist and was the [[Coordinator for Counterterrorism]] at the [[United States Department of State]] from 2009 to 2012, appointed by Secretary Hillary Clinton.<ref>{{cite web|title=Daniel Benjamin |url=https://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/124422.htm |publisher=State Department |accessdate=6 February 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224142856/http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/124422.htm |archivedate=February 24, 2012 }}</ref> Benjamin was the director of the [[John Sloan Dickey]] Center for International Understanding at [[Dartmouth College]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dickey.dartmouth.edu/people/daniel-benjamin|title=Daniel Benjamin|date=8 August 2014}}</ref> In July 2020, he became president of the [[American Academy in Berlin]], a nonprofit, nonpartisan, independent transatlantic institution in the German capital.<ref>{{Cite web|title=New Academy President: Ambassador Daniel Benjamin|url=https://www.americanacademy.de/new-academy-president-ambassador-daniel-benjamin/|date=2020-04-02|website=American Academy|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-20}}</ref>

==Early life==
Benjamin grew up in [[Stamford, Conn.]], one of three sons (William Benjamin and Jonathan Benjamin) born to Burton and Susan Benjamin. His father is an [[internist]]; his late mother was a teacher, an administrator at the [[University of Connecticut]] and the head of marketing for a Manhattan law firm. They were a moderately observant Jewish family. 
Benjamin graduated from [[Harvard University]] [[magna cum laude]], and then was a 1983 [[Marshall Scholar]] at [[New College, Oxford]].<ref>[https://www.vnews.com/Daniel-Benjamin-director-Dickey-Center-Dartmouth-10035973 Dickey Center Director Writes, Speaks With Urgency of the Times]. By Nicola Smith. ''Valley News'', May 28, 2017.</ref> After college, he worked as a journalist for ''[[Time Magazine|Time]]'' and ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]''.

==Government service==
From 1994 to 1999, as a member of President Clinton's staff, Benjamin served as a foreign policy speech writer and special assistant.<ref name=dartmouthprofile>{{cite web|url=https://dickey.dartmouth.edu/people/daniel-benjamin|title=Daniel Benjamin|date=8 August 2014|accessdate=September 11, 2014}}</ref> During that period, he also served on the [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-nov-24-oe-benjamin24-story.html|title=Jihadist Iraq just won't happen|last=Benjamin|first=Daniel|date=Nov 24, 2005|newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>

From 2009 to 2012, Benjamin was the [[US State Department]]'s Coordinator for [[counter-terrorism]], with the rank of [[Ambassador-at-Large]].<ref name=brookings/>

==Academic work==

Benjamin was a Senior Fellow in the International Security Program at the [[Center for Strategic and International Studies]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nybooks.com/contributors/daniel-benjamin/|title = Daniel Benjamin}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people6/Benjamin/benjamin-con0.html|title=Conversations with History|last=Kreisler|first=Harry}}</ref> He was also named a 2004 [[Berlin prize]] fellow by the [[American 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 at [[The Brookings Institution]].<ref name=brookings>[http://www.brookings.edu/experts/benjamind.aspx Daniel Benjamin's Brookings Profile] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081030050031/http://www.brookings.edu/experts/benjamind.aspx |date=October 30, 2008 }}</ref>

In 2012, he was appointed the Norman E. McCulloch Jr. Director of the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College.<ref name= dartmouthprofile/>

==Writing==
Together with [[Steven Simon]], Benjamin wrote ''The Age of Sacred Terror'' ([[Random House]], 2002), which documents the rise of [[al Qaeda]] and religiously motivated [[terrorism]], as well as America's efforts to combat that threat. They review the history of [[Islamist]] political thought from [[ibn Taymiyya]] in the 13th century, to [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab|al-Wahhab]] (the 18th century founder of [[Wahabbism]]) down to [[Osama bin Laden|bin 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.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Laipson|first=Ellen|url=http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/58630/ellen-laipson/while-america-slept-understanding-terrorism-and-counterterrorism|journal=Foreign Affairs|title=While America Slept: Understanding Terrorism and Counterterrorism|date=Jan–Feb 2003|volume=82 |issue=1 |pages=142–147 |doi=10.2307/20033435|jstor=20033435|accessdate=May 3, 2012|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Benjamin and Simon would follow up ''The Age of Sacred Terror'' in 2005 with ''The Next Attack: The Globalization of Jihad'' (Hodder & Soughton (in Britain), 2005), a book which received high-praise from [[Bill Clinton]].

In the April 30, 2006 edition of ''Time'', Benjamin wrote a favorable profile of [[Pervez Musharraf]], with the headline, "Why Pakistan's Leader May Be The West's Best Bet for Peace."

==Notes==
<references />

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081030050031/http://www.brookings.edu/experts/benjamind.aspx Brookings page]
* {{C-SPAN|1002711}}
*[https://www.americanacademy.de American Academy in Berlin]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benjamin, Daniel}}
[[Category:1961 births]]
[[Category:Alumni of New College, Oxford]]
[[Category:American critics of Islam]]
[[Category:American political scientists]]
[[Category:Berlin Prize recipients]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:Jewish American journalists]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Marshall Scholars]]
[[Category:United States ambassadors-at-large]]
[[Category:United States National Security Council staffers]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]
[[Category:United States coordinators for counterterrorism]]