Thoughts on the Paris Attacks

November's Attacks in Paris renewed debate over a host of issues, including strategies to defeat ISIS, the mirgrant crisis, and where terrorits might strike next. Below is a sampling of insights from the Belfer Center experts.

Quotes are exclusive to the Belfer Center unless otherwise noted.

Military Action

Stephen Walt

Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Affairs

"ISIS hopes to ignite a vast religious war, to vindicate its narrative of Western hostility and win it more support. Sending U.S. forces back into the Middle East maelstrom would give ISIS exactly what it wants. Military force alone cannot solve this problem, and could easily make it worse."

Charles Freilich

Senior Fellow, International Security Program
Former Deputy National Security Advisor, Israel

"Air strikes, without some ground forces, will compound the problem, as ISIS learns that the West is unwilling to defend its liberties, no matter how heinous the provocation. Immediate efforts must focus on ISIS, but Assad has murdered 250,000 people and Iran has not abandoned its nuclear ambitions. They remain the primary threats."

Migrant Crisis

Nicholas Burns

Director, Future of Diplomacy Project

"It would be a grave, grave misjudgment if we decided to close our borders to refugees because the United States has always, under Republican and Democratic administrations, welcomed refugees. We’re a refugee immigrant nation. Remember that Albert Einstein, Henry Kissinger, and Madeleine Albright all came to this country as refugees. It’s very important that we keep our doors open."

_{(Interview, Harvard Gazette, 11/15/15)}

Jill Goldenziel

Fellow, International Security Program

"Europe must not fall into ISIS’s trap. ISIS wants to stop Syrians from fleeing its realm.  It wants to stoke anti-Muslim backlash to provoke more European Muslims to radicalize. [F]ailing to handle the matter with caution is perilous for both refugees and European security."

Challenges for America

Michael Morell

Senior Fellow, Belfer Center
Former Acting Director, CIA

"As a terrorist group, ISIS poses a threat to the homeland. That threat today is largely indirect—ISIS’s ability to radicalize young Americans to conduct attacks here."

^{(Op-ed, TIME, 11/15/15)}

Farah Pandith

Senior Fellow, Future of Diplomacy Center
Former U.S. Special Representative to Muslim Communities

"Precisely because we have so much diversity within our Muslim communities... the multitude of American Muslim voices could provide a serious counterweight to extremist narratives."

^{(Interview, Council on Foreign Relations, 11/14/15)}

Challenges for Europe

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Fellow, Future of Diplomacy Project

"…Europeans must design a new immigration policy that admits immigrants only if they are committed to adopt European values and to reject precisely the Islamist politics that makes them vulnerable to the siren song of the caliphate."

^{(Op-ed, The Wall Street Journal, 11/15/15)}

Douglas Alexander

Fisher Family Fellow, Future of Diplomacy Project
Former Shadow Foreign Secretary, United Kingdom

"The horrific terrorist attacks...confirm that European leaders now face security, refugee and Eurozone crises. These attacks also confirm that the Middle East—a volatile, destabilised and deteriorating region—demands fresh approaches from global leaders."

Juliette Kayyem

Lecturer in Public Policy, Belfer Center
Former Assistant Director for Intergovernmental Affairs, DHS

"My suspicion is that Europe is going to reexamine its response to the Snowden disclosures [following the Paris attacks], and you’re going to get a greater surveillance apparatus in those countries."

^{(Interview, Harvard Gazette, 11/15/15)}

War on Terror

Rami Khouri

Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
At-large Editor, The Daily Star

"The Paris attacks by ISIS...suggest that a ‘war on terror’ response would be emotionally understandable but ineffective... [We need to] tackle the widespread vulnerability, humiliation and hopelessness among tens of millions of voiceless citizens."

» For more reactions to the Paris Attacks, see

belfercenter.org/ParisAttacks