Choose Your Path
What earlier operations, crises, failures, and acts of courage can still teach us now.
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Utah Valley University’s after-action report on the September 10, 2025 assassination of Charlie Kirk points to a larger failure than any single missed rooftop or security gap. UVU had police officers, private security, surveillance…
Read the briefBriefing work
Current assessments and intelligence-style work connected to this subject.
Al-Qaeda held footage of Hamza bin Laden recorded as Afghanistan was falling in August 2021 and waited more than five years to release it. The timing…
Read briefAQIS is using the 25th anniversary of 9/11 to explain to a younger audience why it believes America should remain the priority and to connect September…
Read briefTwenty-five years after 9/11, the House Intelligence Committee reviewed what the U.S. fixed, what remains unfinished, and where new intelligence gaps may be forming. These are…
Read briefFive years after the Abbey Gate bombing, this brief reconstructs the twelve days before the attack: the authorization, the bomber’s release and movement, the network around…
Read briefFive years after Kabul fell, Afghanistan should not be understood simply as the end of America’s longest war. It marked the beginning of another cycle in…
Read briefThe return of Ebola to international headlines is a reminder that some threats never disappear; they simply fade from public attention until conditions allow them to…
Read briefThe recent federal indictment of former Cuban leader Raúl Castro over the 1996 shootdown of two civilian aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue is being…
Read briefTechnology, human intelligence, community readiness, exercises, escalation planning, and ignored warnings all carry lessons for the United States.
Read the briefThe Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) continues to rely on controversial entrapment operations as a core component of its counterterrorism strategy—a practice increasingly criticized for targeting…
Read briefNew reporting from June 15th, 2025, has reignited outrage over the fate of missing American journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared in Syria in 2012. According to…
Read briefOn this date in 2003, a series of coordinated suicide bombings struck residential compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, targeting Western nationals. Orchestrated by al-Qaeda, these attacks…
Read briefAs we approach the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, it is crucial to reflect on the enduring lessons of that fateful day. On December…
Read briefLast Saturday, October 26th, after former President and current Republican nominee Donald J. Trump received endorsements from elements of Michigan’s Muslim community, misinformation resurfaced regarding the…
Read briefToday, on the one-year anniversary of the October 7th, 2023, attacks in Israel, the profound implications of this tragedy become increasingly clear. The attacks, executed by…
Read briefIn the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the United States undertook an unprecedented restructuring of its counterterrorism and national security infrastructure. This response resulted in the…
Read briefAugust 28, 2024 Introduction This analysis compares al-Qaeda's leadership, global presence, operational capabilities, financial networks, ideological influence, relationship with the Taliban, recruitment strategies, and alliances in…
Read briefThe withdrawal of U.S. and International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) from Afghanistan in 2021 has left behind a network of military and intelligence bases that offer…
Read briefOn July 30, 2024, senior Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr aka Hajj Mohsin was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in a Hezbollah…
Read briefResearch & source work
Investigations, reports, letters, source work, and earlier research that add context.
An investigation tracing a German-speaking terrorist cell from Europe through Turkey and Egypt into Libya and the September 2012 Benghazi attacks.
Read the investigationOctober 2025 letter from 26 military and veterans’ organizations challenging the framing of a Washington Post article on Veterans Affairs disability compensation. Moral Compass Foundation is…
Read preserved PDFAn expanded investigation into the attack at Abbey Gate, the network behind it, and the compressed plotting window that preceded it.
Open investigationLessons from the intelligence gaps and interconnected jihadist networks that shaped the Benghazi threat environment.
Read articleAugust 2023 joint veterans-organization letter asking Congress to address visa backlogs and establish a legislative solution for at-risk Afghan partners. UNCN appears as a signatory.
Read preserved PDFCoalition letter supporting expanded veterans’ options for accredited assistance with VA benefits and expressing concerns about the GUARD VA Benefits Act. UNCN appears among the signatory…
Read preserved PDFDecember 2022 coalition appeal to President Biden advocating parole for former Afghan commando Abdul Wasi Safi while his asylum claim was considered. UNCN appears as a…
Read preserved PDFNovember 2022 coalition letter to Senators Cory Booker and Rand Paul advocating research and treatment access for Special Operations veterans. The Ukraine NGO Coordination Network is…
Read preserved PDFA call to remember the Benghazi victims by continuing the work of identifying and pursuing the planners responsible.
Read articleOutside publications
Magazine, journal, and outside publication work that belongs on this path.
Newly declassified 9/11 files show that warnings about Osama bin Laden and attacks inside the U.S. were reaching the highest levels of government years before September…
Read articleTwenty-five years after 9/11, one of the border-security reforms recommended by the 9/11 Commission remains unfinished: a comprehensive biometric entry-exit system.
Read articleThe rebuilding of a historic Al-Qaeda institution offers one of the clearest indicators of the organization’s resurgence.
Read articleSarah Adams and Dave Benton investigate the mortar team responsible for the attack on the CIA Annex in Benghazi.
Read the articleThe Commons
Practical guidance from The Commons for turning lessons into capability.
A Nordic idea about courage, endurance, and taking the next useful step without pretending difficulty is easy.
Read the noteA Nordic note on courage, perseverance, adaptation, and taking the next useful step when the path becomes difficult.
Read the noteA calmer approach to fear, judgment, and learning—plus books and resources that build confidence without feeding panic.
Read the briefBooks & enduring work
Books, collaborations, and other enduring material that helps round out the subject.
What happens in Afghanistan does not stay in Afghanistan. Twenty-five years after 9/11, this documentary collaboration with The Daily Wire examines what has returned to Afghanistan…
Watch the documentaryJohn Arquilla examines American military strategy from Hiroshima through the age of algorithms, including the growing role of information, computation, and AI.
View bookSarah contributed to the National Geographic series and its episode examining the hunt for Taliban military commander Mullah Dadullah Lang.
View the episodeThe Libya Update reports on Sarah Adams’s Benghazi research and quotes her claims about figures linked to the attack holding positions inside Libya’s Government of National…
Read the articleSarah wrote the foreword to this study of war, trauma, and the making of civilian rescuers.
View the bookAn oral-history project preserving firsthand accounts from people who experienced the war, rebuilding efforts, withdrawal, and Taliban takeover.
Explore HARTFox News Radio features Sarah Adams in a June 2025 interview on Jason Chaffetz’s podcast about her experience in Libya and investigation of the 2012 Benghazi…
Listen to the interviewA Pineapple Press project examining Afghanistan, the withdrawal, and the people who carried its consequences.
View the bookNATO Defence Education Enhancement Programme collected volume includes the September 2022 Sarah Adams and Decoding Terrorism interview beginning on page 48 and her biography on page…
Read NATO volumeTo Vima republishes Deborah Acosta’s Wall Street Journal report quoting Sarah Adams on warnings issued about Ryan Routh. This is a syndicated edition of the same…
Read the republicationAmu TV covers Sarah Adams’s investigative report HKIA: Know Thy Enemy and its findings concerning the 2021 Abbey Gate attack.
Read the articleLiza Mundy’s history of the women who transformed CIA operations, analysis, and modern targeting.
View bookA preserved 2023 exhibition bringing together Afghan artists, veterans, and volunteers through art, storytelling, and the lived consequences of war.
Explore the collectionClearanceJobs interviews Sarah Adams about her career as a CIA targeting officer, the congressional Benghazi investigation, mentorship, and advice for entering intelligence work.
Read and listenA record of coalition humanitarian work in Afghanistan and Ukraine, including UNCN operations and Sarah Adams’s role as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Ukraine…
Read annual reportRyan Petty reviews Benghazi: Know Thy Enemy by Sarah Adams and Dave “Boon” Benton, highlighting their investigation of the attackers, the networks involved, and the unanswered…
Read the book reviewAn interview with Sarah Adams and Dave Benton about the investigation behind Benghazi: Know Thy Enemy and the continuing search for accountability.
Read the interviewSarah Adams and Dave “Boon” Benton reconstruct the Benghazi attacks, the network behind them, and the lessons that remain unfinished.
View bookToby Harnden tells the story of Team Alpha, Mike Spann, and the first CIA mission sent into Afghanistan after September 11.
View bookSarah Adams examines how Ukrainian artists documented war, preserved culture, countered disinformation, and used art to support a country under attack.
Read the articleSonia Purnell restores Virginia Hall’s extraordinary story of spycraft, resistance, and service during World War II.
View bookFred Burton and Samuel M. Katz examine the abduction and murder of CIA Station Chief William Buckley and the rise of Hezbollah’s war against America.
View bookDavid Priess traces the history of the President’s Daily Brief and the people who have prepared and received it.
View bookContributed to the investigation and final report examining the events surrounding the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi.
View the final reportPOLITICO’s 2015 reporting on professional staff working for the House Select Committee on Benghazi. Preserved as coverage of the committee during Sarah Adams’s tenure as a…
Read the articlePolitico coverage of staffing and salaries associated with the House Select Committee on Benghazi.
Read the articleHenry A. Crumpton reflects on clandestine service, counterterrorism, and the responsibilities of intelligence work.
View bookT. J. Waters offers a firsthand account of joining the CIA’s first post-9/11 Clandestine Service training class.
View bookGary Schroen’s first-person account of the CIA team sent into Afghanistan after September 11.
View bookTed Gup investigates the lives behind the stars on the CIA Memorial Wall and the human cost of secret service.
View bookHer own account of the work, hardship, friendships, and purpose that shaped her life as a writer.
Read at Project GutenbergOne of Hannah Adams’s most substantial works, tracing Jewish history from antiquity to her own time.
Find an editionA history from the settlement at Plymouth through the adoption of the United States Constitution.
Read the archiveHannah Adams’s pioneering comparative survey sought to describe religious communities in their own terms.
Read the archiveKeep the thread
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