To survive undercover as an FBI agent, it is not enough to simply dress like a terrorist or act like a white supremacist, you have to think like them. Mike German, a former FBI agent, did just that by figuring out what makes terrorists tick, infiltrating their ranks, learning what they want and how they plan to achieve it, and winning their trust. It was a harrowing ride, but in the end he exposed their criminal activity without losing his life. In fact, he was able to write a book about his experience, Thinking Like a Terrorist, and his story inspired the recent movie, Imperium.
This evening, German shares the hard lessons he learned as an undercover agent with a clear-eyed assessment of the threats we may or may not face, how to fight them, and how to preserve our core values in the process. German is a fellow with the Liberty and National Security program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School.
