RSVP now for event that explores the inner-workings of an enduring U.S. enemy: al Qaeda

Reserve your seat now for the next event in the 9/11 Today and Tomorrow speakers series.  On May 19, counterterrorism expert Bill Braniff of West Point's Combating Terrorism Center will present Understanding the Enemy: Counterterrorism and al Qaeda.

All events in the series are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. at the 9/11 Memorial Preview Site at 20 Vesey St. in Manhattan. A suggested donation of $10 per person will help support ongoing programming.

Braniff conducts cutting-edge research in counterterrorism and trains law enforcement agencies. His expertise helps U.S. officials combat terrorism with a deeper understanding of how al Qaeda operates.

The speakers series events are being filmed in HD for THIRTEEN Forum. The programs are available online the following week for streaming or podcasting at http://www.thirteen.org/forum/. The debut event in March featured touching 9/11 audio recordings from StoryCorps. If you missed the debut, watch it and other programs here or at WNET.ORG.

The April 28 event in the series that will explore the 9/11 terror trials and Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is fully booked.

The 9/11 terror trials event will be available for online viewing May 5. The terror-trial panel includes noted author Karen Greenberg, who is the executive director of NYU’s Center on Law and Security. Greenberg has studied data on trials of  terror suspects since 9/11.  Joining Greenberg on the panel are Dennis Farrell and New York State Supreme Court Judge Edward McCarty.

Farrell, whose firefighter brother died on 9/11, is a nationally recognized security expert with more than three decades of law enforcement experience. McCarty is a military tribunals aficionado. The judge, who is a retired colonel from the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps, presides in Nassau County, where he’s a special law professor at Hofstra University.

By Michael Frazier, Sr. Communications Manager for the 9/11 Memorial