Though he calls it "happenstance," a career choice led Peter Bergen to be a world-renowned expert on terrorism and especially the al-Qaida network.

Bergen -- who is a terrorism analyst for CNN and wrote "Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden" -- spoke to a crowd Tuesday at Pennsylvania State University's Shenango Campus in Sharon as part of the Greenberger Family Memorial Lectureship.

Bergen describes his job as "fun" and said he always thought about being a journalist. Being a famous terrorism expert was not something he set out to do.

He earned his bachelor's degree from New College at Oxford, England, and took a job at ABC as a desk assistant.

"Basically I was a glorified messenger," he said. He worked his way through the ABC ranks and eventually ended up at CNN.

Bergen said he always had an interest in countries like Afghanistan, and, while in school, he made a film about Afghan refugees. He said documentary and magazine work really interests him because it has a longer "shelf-life" than daily news.

After the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, Bergen said he began investigating the roots of terrorism behind the attack. All of the people involved in the attack had either been to Afghanistan or worked for the Afghan Refugees Center in Brooklyn, an organization that turned out to be a branch of Osama bin Laden's network, he said.

Bergen said the first time he heard bin Laden's name was in 1996, and in 1997 he interviewed bin Laden. Bin Laden was paranoid about security and Bergen and his cameraman were taken to a secret location.

"It was quite dramatic," Bergen said.

He described bin Laden as "intelligent, very focused and not psychotic." The al-Qaida leader was "very low key," he said.

Bergen's book was scheduled to be published in the summer of 2002, but publication was moved to November 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Bergen said he's planning to write another book about the post-Sept. 11 al-Qaida.

"It's the biggest story in my lifetime," he said.

Over the years his research on al-Qaida has led him around the globe to places like Afghanistan, Yemen, Egypt, England and Pakistan.

In the southern part of Yemen, Bergen said, he visited bin Laden's ancestral village. "It's a very beautiful place," he said, adding that the Queen of Sheba and likely the biblical three wise men came from that area of the country.

"There's not too many tourists there," he joked.

Bergen said he enjoys working for CNN. "It's the best news organization. It's the right place to be when there's news."