Todd Bensman is a Texas-based Senior National Security Fellow for the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington D.C.-based research institute that examines the impact of immigration on American society. For nearly a decade prior to joining CIS in August 2018, Bensman led homeland security intelligence efforts for one of the nation's most robust state fusion centers, in Texas. His work with intelligence operations is founded on more than 20 years of experience covering national security as a print journalist.
In 2009, Bensman transitioned from journalism to join the Texas Department of Public Safety's Intelligence and Counterterrorism Division, where he managed teams of intelligence analysts that worked in concert with federal homeland security and U.S. Intelligence Community agencies to identify and mitigate terrorism threats. From the State of Texas fusion center for nine years, he designed and directed collection operations that fed into the Intelligence Community and prompted or advanced federal counterterrorism investigations.
Prior to his government experience, Bensman worked on staff for The Dallas Morning News, CBS, and Hearst Newspapers, covering the FBI, federal law enforcement and serving on investigative teams. He reported extensively on national security issues after 9/11 and worked from more than 25 countries in Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. In Texas, His work earned two National Press Club awards and an Inter-American Press Association award, among others. During the early 1990s, he reported on the Gulf War and a year of warfare in Bosnia, where he provided frequent dispatches from the siege of Sarajevo.
Bensman holds a master’s degree from the Naval Postgraduate School, Center for Homeland Defense and Security. He also holds a master’s degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism, and an undergraduate degree in journalism from Northern Arizona University.
