CNN’s Peter Bergen to speak at UCF

Peter Bergen, CNN’s national security analyst and the author of “The Osama bin Laden I Know,” will speak at the University of Central Florida on Tuesday, Oct. 11.

“After Osama bin Laden: Terrorism’s Future Prospects” will begin at 3 p.m. in the Cape Florida Ballroom of the Student Union. The event, organized by the UCF Global Perspectives Office, is free and open to the public. The forum is part of the 2011-2012 themes “People Power, Politics and Global Change” and “Covering Crises from the Frontlines.”

Bergen, a prominent commentator on emerging terrorist threats, is one of a few Westerners who interviewed Osama bin Laden face-to-face. He’s the author of “Holy War, Inc.” and the recently released “The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict Between America and Al-Qaeda.”

As CNN’s national security analyst, Bergen in 2006 produced the CNN special “In the Footsteps of bin Laden,” largely based on his book about the former Al-Qaeda leader. Bergen also has reported on terrorism for publications such as The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The New Republic and TIME magazine.

Bergen serves as director of the national security studies program at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C. He also is a research fellow at New York University’s Center on Law and Security.