Daniel Byman

Director, Warfare, Irregular Threats, and Terrorism Program
Daniel Byman

Daniel Byman is the director of the Warfare, Irregular Threats, and Terrorism Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He is also a professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and director of the Security Studies Program. He is the foreign policy editor for Lawfare and a part-time senior adviser to the Department of State on the International Security Advisory Board. In addition to serving as the vice dean for the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown, he was a senior fellow at the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution and a professional staff member with both the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States (9-11 Commission) and the Joint 9/11 Inquiry Staff of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. He formerly served as research director of the Center for Middle East Public Policy at the RAND Corporation and as a Middle East analyst for the U.S. intelligence community. Dr. Byman is a leading researcher and has written widely on a range of topics related to terrorism, insurgency, intelligence, social media, artificial intelligence, and the Middle East. He is the author of nine books, including Road Warriors: Foreign Fighters in the Armies of Jihad (Oxford, 2019), Al Qaeda, the Islamic State, and the Global Jihadist Movement: What Everyone Needs Know (Oxford, 2015), and A High Price: The Triumphs and Failures of Israeli Counterterrorism (Oxford, 2011). He is the author or coauthor of almost 200 academic and policy articles, monographs, and book chapters as well as numerous opinion pieces in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and other leading journals. Dr. Byman is a graduate of Amherst College and received his PhD in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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Spreading Hate

Spreading Hate

Spreading Hate: The Global Rise of White Supremacist Terrorism examines the evolution of the white power movement around the world, explaining its appeal and the threat it poses as well as many failures. In this sweeping, authoritative account, Daniel Byman traces the key moments in the white power movement's evolution in the United States and around the world and then details its many facets today. Using a wide range of sources, Byman explodes several myths about white power terrorism and exposes dangerous gaps in current policies.

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Jihadist Terrorism in the United States

Despite the attack in New Orleans, long-term trends suggest that jihadist terrorism in the U.S. is not resurgent. The number of jihadist plots and attacks in the U.S. has been low and the average lethality of attacks has also fallen since the territorial defeat of ISIS. 

Brief by Alexander Palmer, Skyeler Jackson, and Daniel Byman — January 21, 2025

Strengthening Resilience in Taiwan

Taiwan has taken important steps to strengthen resilience over the last several years. However, the threat it faces is significant, and it falls short in many important dimensions of resilience.

Report by Daniel Byman, Seth G. Jones, and Jude Blanchette — December 11, 2024

A Region Aflame - October 7 A Year Later

The CSIS Middle East Program and International Security Program host a roundtable on the social, political, and security challenges facing the Middle East in the year since the October 7 attacks.

Event — October 7, 2024

Escalating to War between Israel, Hezbollah, and Iran

There is a serious risk of all-out war between Israel, Hezbollah, and Iran. According to new CSIS analysis, both the scale and geographic scope of violence has dramatically increased and could spread further throughout the region.

Brief by Daniel Byman, Seth G. Jones, and Alexander Palmer — October 4, 2024