Days after the terror attacks in Bagdad, Beirut, and Paris, people are still scrambling for answers about why and how this happened, and how to move forward.
Mark Concordia worked counter terrorism at the FBI for thirteen years. Now he's a professor of criminal justice at Roberts Wesleyan. He says, the motivation behind the attacks, and behind ISIS, hasn't changed at all.
They want to inspire terror in who they perceive as "other."
What has changed is their ability to organize.
"And that ability comes from the mere fact that they have a safe haven. They can import jihadists from Western Europe and across the word, they can train them, and then they can successfully send them back to their countries to further their terrorist narrative and intentions."
Concordia says ISIS is also eluding Western Intelligence with their communication strategies. For example, they're using emerging technologies that are more encrypted.
"Some of our laws in this area are antiquated, so we have to really balance the discussion around civil liberties with the need to increase our intelligence collections platforms to make us safe."
Concordia says we also have to overcome our biases, work toward understanding the complexities of the issue, and not lump ISIS and Islam together. If we can do that, he says we can unite, globally, against this common enemy.
