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CONTACT: Mark Schlakman, (850) 644-4614; <mschlakman@admin.fsu.edu> Oct. 9, 2008 NATIONAL SECURITY EXPERT TO DISCUSS U.S.-MIDDLE EAST CHALLENGES FACING NEXT PRESIDENT Daniel Benjamin, director of the Center on the United States and Europe and a senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., will discuss “The Middle East and the Next President: Where To Go From Here?” at Florida State University on Tuesday, Oct. 14. Benjamin’s talk, which comes on the eve of the final presidential debate, is part of FSU’s “Human Rights and National Security in the 21st Century” fall lecture series. From 1994 to 1997, Benjamin served on the National Security Council (NSC) staff at the White House and was a foreign policy speechwriter and special assistant to President Clinton. He subsequently served as the NSC’s director of transnational threats from 1998 to 1999. His areas of expertise include the Middle East and European affairs, terrorism and American foreign and national security policy. His current research focuses on Islam in Europe and the evolution of Jihadist terrorism. Benjamin is the co-author of two books with Steven Simon, “The Age of Sacred Terror: Radical Islam’s War Against America” and “The Next Attack: The Failure of the War on Terror and a Strategy for Getting it Right,” and is a frequent guest on nightly news programs. He began his career as a staff writer at Time magazine and was the Wall Street Journal’s bureau chief in Germany. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a master’s from Oxford University. Benjamin’s talk will be followed by brief remarks by Parvez Ahmed, an assistant professor of finance at the University of North Florida and former national chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and Rabbi Jack Romberg of Temple Israel, Tallahassee’s Reform Jewish congregation. Sponsored by the FSU Center for the Advancement of Human Rights, the “Human Rights and National Security in the 21st Century” lecture series examines human rights interests and national security imperatives within the context of the U.S.-led “War on Terror.” This event, which is sponsored in collaboration with the National Security Network, is free and open to the public. It will be held: TUESDAY, OCT. 14 Public parking is available across the street at the Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center. # # # |