Ben Furman's Blog (17)

Anges et Demons by Dan Brown

My review

The Illuminati, a legendary secret society, plans to destroy the Vatican City with a newly discovered power of… Continue

The Obrero Gang



By Ben Furman



The Obrero Gang was Frank Durazo, Johnny Salinas and Jimmy Tag Along. The ten year olds had grown up on a nameless, carved-out street in Barrio Obrero on the outskirts of San Juan, and throughout the barrio it was well known that when one was sighted the other two would be right behind. It was time to hide the valuables.



Frank was the biggest and fastest, and he could more than hold his own with the older kids. He possessed the… Continue

By Jamie Glazov



FrontPageMagazine.com | published 4/3/2009



FrontPage Interview’s guest today is Ben R. Furman, the FBI's Former Counterterrorism Chief. He writes a blog at blackhawkpress.com/blog, and he is the author of The Devil’s Darning Needle, a counterterrorism thriller.



FP: Ben R. Furman, welcome to Frontpage Interview.



I’d like to talk to you today about unmanned aerial vehicles and what they mean to the terror war.



How do we… Continue

FrontPage Interview’s guest today is Ben R. Furman, the FBI's Former Counterterrorism Chief. He writes a blog at blackhawkpress.com/blog, and he is the author of The Devil’s Darning Needle, a counterterrorism thriller.



FP: Welcome to the FrontPage interview, Mr. Furman.



We would like to talk to you today about the infiltration of terrorists across U.S. northern and southern borders, and the groups here that support it via facilitating illegal alien… Continue

United In Hate -- The Left's Romance With Tyranny and Terror is a book that examines the seamy underbelly of the radical Left which considers Western society and its values an anathema. Dr. Jamie Glazov, the Managing Editor of FrontPage Magazine, methodically details the causational factors that have lead modern Leftists to adhere to the death and destruction mantra of tyrannical Islamic Jihadists.



The Twin Towers are destroyed, 2973 people die in the attack and the radical Left… Continue

By Ben Furman, Former FBI Counterterrorism Chief



In February 2008 Mike McConnell, the Director of US National Intelligence, testified before the House Intelligence Committee and said this, “The FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) of Pakistan serve as a staging area for al Qaeda’s attacks in support of the Taliban in Afghanistan as well as a location for training new terrorist operatives for attacks in Pakistan, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the United… Continue

By Ben Furman, former FBI Counterterrorism Chief



Here are my thoughts about the media coverage of the terrorist attack on Mumbai, formerly Bombay, India. The media, as it often does, caused my blood pressure to skyrocket by its soft-pedaling of the identification of the terrorist attackers as Muslims. I guess reporting this fact was something it considered offensive and politically incorrect. But this reporting by omission follows the media’s template of not calling terrorists… Continue

Our southwestern border is surely in the same zip code as Hell!



A November 16, 2008 Los Angeles Times article pointed out that, “Few regions of the U.S. are immune to drug-trafficking organizations that have caused horrendous death and destruction." So far in 2008 drug related violence in Mexico has left nearly 4,000 of its people dead. And the violence has spread deep into the United States. There is a trail of slayings, kidnappings and other serious crimes that lead to at least 195… Continue

Other than Mexican (OTM) is a strange term. What does it mean? Ninety percent of the illegal aliens who cross the U.S. southern border each year from Mexico are Mexicans. The rest that come from all parts of the world are labeled Other than Mexican illegals by our government.



The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that oversees Customs, Immigration and Border Patrol enforcement said in a recent oversight committee that tens of thousands of OTMs enter the U.S. illegally each year.… Continue

Foreign and domestic terrorists continue to poke and probe at our defenses with the sinister intent to use chemical, biological or nuclear weapons (WMD) against us. If they are successful, can we respond to and manage the death and destruction that we’ll face in the aftermath?



Giant steps have been taken to coordinate and incorporate civilian and military assets into dedicated prevention and response forces, and fast paced efforts are ongoing. This post will be a quick introduction.… Continue

The narrow dirt path made a turn at the bottom of the hill and continued through a patch of large ferns. Sam hesitated. The woods would be dark soon, but she’d come so far and she really wanted to see where the path led. She parted the delicate ferns and stepped through. “So beautiful!”



The path ended at a small pool that reflected everything around it like a giant mirror. An ancient underground stream above seeped through invisible cracks in layered stones, gathered and tumbled… Continue

“Samantha Mae Costas! Come on, or we’re going to miss the plane!”



Sam knew that when her father used her complete name he meant business. She grabbed her well-worn Yankees ball cap off the bedpost and pulled it down tightly over her long red braids.



It was a dreary, gray day. During the night a blast of cold air rushed down from Canada and brought with it dark clouds and a drenching rain. The mist fogged Sam’s glasses, and after a couple of tries to wipe them off, she… Continue

In the aftermath of 9/11 the world heard the scathing indictment of the U.S. intelligence agencies charged with preventing terrorist attacks. The dots weren’t connected! Why? Because intelligence agencies that had bits and pieces of the attack information hadn’t provided it to their counterparts. There was a myriad of reasons for this, including protecting one’s turf, fear of critical information leaks to the press and the like, but the “stove pipe” analogy was the most troubling. “Stovepiping”… Continue

An interview with Master Telegu, the red dragon, a character from Sam's Quest: The Royal Trident, Book 2. Written by Ben Furman.



“I have just a few more questions, Master Telegu,” the young dragonette reporter for the Dragonian Times said.



“Oh, very well, but be quick about it. I am busy, busy, busy guarding all this treasure,” Master Telegu replied and ruffled his red scales to display his magnificence and signal his impatience.



“You are the most intelligent of… Continue

La Aguja del Caballito del Diablo

A counterterrorism thriller by Ben R. Furman.



Western folklore said the dragonfly was in league with the Devil, and in the dead of night while everyone slept, it would enter bedrooms and sew up the eyes and mouths of misbehaving children, scolding women, and lying men. The dragonfly became known as the Devil’s Darning Needle. I use the term to describe the robotic dragonflies that are the attack vehicles in the story. If the government’s cutting… Continue

This is the first in a series of posts that will deal with terrorism.



If you want to enter a never-ending fracas, just come up with your own definition of terrorism and jump in. Even though terrorism has been used since the beginning of recorded history, it’s still a bear to define.



So where does the term terrorist come from anyway? The Latin word terrere means “to frighten.” The French word terrorisme brought the usage forward in time. The word is associated with the… Continue

Is there room in the box to add one more tip or one more thought about writing? Not much, but I’ll try to wedge mine in somehow. Writing rules and regs change with the times, and what’s in fashion now will disappear over the horizon only to orbit back and become “it” again. This recycling bit is the reason, or in my case, the rationalization I give my wife for not tossing my old ties. I know someday the string bow tie will make a come back.



Have fun writing. I don’t mean dancing… Continue