Holy War, Inc. (2001), a New York Times bestseller,[20] and The Osama bin Laden I Know (2006) were named among the best non-fiction books of the year by The Washington Post.

Jeff Stein in the Washington Post called Holy War "equal parts journalism, history, and whimsical travelogue."

Michiko Kakutani in the New York Times states that Bergen "does a succinct job of pulling together a wealth of information into a coherent ... narrative ... that impresses upon the reader the crucial role that the Afghan-Soviet conflict played in radicalizing many Islamic militants ... and replacing the notion of Arab nationalism with that of a larger Islamist movement."

For instance, he references bin Laden's education and work experience in his family's construction business that later informed his decisions on how to "transform Al Qaeda ... into the world's pre-eminent terrorist organization."

[38] Bergen co-edited, with Katherine Tiedemann, Talibanistan: Negotiating the Borders Between Terror, Politics, and Religion, a collection of essays about the Taliban that was published by Oxford University Press in 2013.

[39] He co-edited, with Daniel Rothenberg, Drone Wars: Transforming Conflict, Law, and Policy, published by Cambridge University Press in 2014.

Named one of the Best Nonfiction Books of the Year by the Los Angeles Times and Kirkus Reviews, in the New York Times, Louise Richardson, vice chancellor of Oxford University, wrote that the book is “Meticulously documented…fluidly written…replete with riveting detail…" Bergen has worked as a correspondent and producer for the National Geographic Channel,[44] Discovery Channel, HBO, Showtime, and CNN Films.

He was a producer of "Ghosts of Beirut" for Showtime in 2023, a docudrama series directed by Greg Barker that traced the long conflict between the CIA and Hezbollah.

[50] In 1994, he won the Overseas Press Club Edward R. Murrow award for best foreign affairs documentary for the CNN program Kingdom of Cocaine,[51] which was also nominated for an Emmy.

[52] Bergen co-produced the CNN documentary, Terror Nation, which traced the links between Afghanistan and the bombers who attacked the World Trade Center for the first time in 1993.

[53] The documentary, which was shot in Afghanistan during the civil war there and aired in 1994, concluded that the country would be the source of additional anti-Western terrorism.

[55] He also produced documentaries on the Clinton administration, the Cali Cartel, the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress, and advances in AIDS research.

[56] Previously, he worked for CNN Special Assignment as a producer on a wide variety of international and U.S. national stories, including the first network interview with white supremacist author, William Luther Pierce.

In 1983, he traveled to Pakistan for the first time with two friends to make a documentary about the Afghan refugees fleeing the Soviet invasion of their country.

[70] He has written for newspapers and magazines around the world such as The Guardian,[71] The Times,[72] The Daily Telegraph,[73] International Herald Tribune,[74] Prospect,[75] El Mundo,[76] La Repubblica,[77] The National,[78] Die Welt,[79] and Der Spiegel.