The al-Qaeda Threat: An Analytical Guide to al-Qaeda's Tactics & Targets

About the AuthorMr. Ben Venzke is the CEO of Tempest Publishing and its intelligence group, IntelCenter, which specializes in terrorism, national security issues and cyber threats. Mr. Venzke founded the Intelligence Watch Report (IWR) and its web site, IntelWeb. IWR provided daily coverage of all aspects of intelligence agency activity around the world. He sold IWR to Jane's Information Group in December 1996 and remained on as head of the product for a year. While at Jane's Information Group, Mr. Venzke launched the Terrorism Watch Report (TWR), which provided daily coverage of drug cartels, organized crime, and terrorist and rebel groups. After leaving Jane's Information Group, he took a position at Pinkerton Global Intelligence Services (PGIS) as a senior consultant. At PGIS, Mr. Venzke was responsible for providing threat assessments on terrorism, crime, civil unrest and war in the Middle East and Africa. He was also responsible for monitoring Osama bin Laden, chemical and biological terrorism, and economic/industrial espionage. Following PGIS, Mr. Venzke joined iDEFENSE where he worked as the Director of Intelligence Special Projects, developing the collection techniques and analytical methods used to understand the growing number of cyber threat actors from activists to terrorists. While there he authored the Israeli-Palestinian Cyber Conflict report which provided a detailed look at how a cyber conflict occurs.Mr. Venzke has been at the helm of Tempest Publishing for the past 14 years and has worked on everything from traditional print publications to email and web-based products. Tempest Publishing is the leading publisher of response information on chemical and biological terrorism, as well as information on intelligence agencies and terrorist groups through IntelCenter.Mr. Venzke is a contributor to the Boston Globe, Wired and Jane's Intelligence Review. He served for two years as the vice-president of industry for the National Military Intelligence Association (NMIA) and is a member of the Operations Security Professionals Society. Mr. Venzke appears regularly on CNN, MSNBC, FoxNews and other networks. He is frequently quoted in the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Washington Post and other leading publications. He graduated from Emerson College with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communications.