Marc Sageman, a forensic psychiatrist in private practice in Philadelphia, is currently associated with the The Solomon Asch Center For Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict, University of Pennsylvania and with the Foreign Policy Research Institute as a Senior Fellow at FPRI's Center on Terrorism, Counter-Terrorism, and Homeland Security (www.fpri.org/research/terrorism).

Dr. Sageman was a CIA case officer in Afghanistan between 1987–89 where he worked closely with Afghanistan's mujahedin.  He has advised various branches of the US government in the war on terror. He testified before the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the US (The 9/11 Commission) in July 2003 concerning The Global Salafi Jihad

As an international authority on the social psychology of terrorist groups Dr. Sageman examined the psychological profiles of 172 known terrorists to understand the specific social circumstances that lead individuals to enter terror networks.  His findings are recorded in Understanding Terror Networks which was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2004. FPRI hosted a book talk and electronic essay on the same topic.