Juliette Kayyem

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Police officers and emergency medical workers in London on Saturday night. Credit Daniel Sorabji/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The terror attack in London on Saturday night — the third in as many months, the second in as many weeks — demonstrated the persistence of the threat we face and the ease with which terrorists can carry out their schemes. Three men, with nothing more than a rental van, knives and fake bomb vests intended to keep both regular citizens and law enforcement at bay, killed at least seven and wounded a couple dozen more. This was a terrifying event for which ISIS has now claimed responsibility, but it was a hardly sophisticated act: a vehicle, some knives and ruthless determination.…  Seguir leyendo »

Egypt Air Flight 804's downing is a tragedy. But we still don't know what kind of tragedy. While Donald Trump's certainty that it was a terrorist act may assure some, and could even be accurate, this isn't how investigations like this work. Theories serve only as a way to guide this investigation, but it is facts that will tell us what actually happened. And that matters not simply for the future safety of the global aviation network, but for the stresses on America's own aviation apparatus.

As data, sometimes conflicting, sometimes simply inaccurate, comes through over the next couple of days, it should be somewhat reassuring to recognize that the potential explanations are limited.…  Seguir leyendo »

Spencer Stone. Alek Skarlatos. Anthony Sadler. If I ever find myself in trouble, I hope the three of you are close by.

These Americans, whose seemingly inconsequential vacation to Europe became the stuff of hero-making, bravely tackled an armed terrorist on a Friday train heading to Paris. The terrorist, identified as Ayoub El Khazzani, of Moroccan origin, was carrying an assault rifle, a pistol and a box cutter and apparently had every intention of causing major fatalities on the train filled with business and summer travelers.

Stone, Skarlatos and Sadler -- the first two have military training -- heard the early commotion on the train and seemed to know exactly what to do.…  Seguir leyendo »

The U.S. Special Operations Forces killing of Abu Sayyaf, a senior ISIS commander with expertise in the organization's finances, late Friday night into early Saturday appears to have been nearly flawlessly executed.

There will be revisions to the narrative -- a nighttime cross-border raid, a firefight, the killing and capture of various ISIS terrorists, the liberation of a slave girl -- and that is to be expected, given the intensity and speed of the raid. But, this was a good kill, and maybe not for the reasons most believe.

Let's first state the obvious. The man in charge of a major economic and financial lifeline for ISIS -- oil and gas -- is dead.…  Seguir leyendo »

The Arctic, which is melting and thereby creating new shipping routes and access to minerals, poses a foreign policy challenge for the United States and other nations — particularly in the warmer months when once-impassable seas become open. But it’s easy to put off dealing with it. The process is like the annual scramble for summer camp: The need for planning begins around February, when the season seems so far away and the kids are still in school and wearing snow boots. Then, suddenly, it’s mid-May.

It is now past mid-May, and Secretary of State John Kerry and his counterparts around the world may be waking up to the need for action.…  Seguir leyendo »

When U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon invoked diplomatic immunity last week for peacekeepers who unwittingly caused the cholera outbreak that killed nearly 8,000 Haitians, his decision looked cold-hearted. Many in Haiti and in the humanitarian community are indignant that the United Nations will face no consequences for failing to properly test soldiers from Nepal who assisted in earthquake relief efforts in 2010. The incident seems like a sign of arrogance and ineptitude on the U.N.’s part.

But sympathy for Haitians should not mask the necessity of the secretary-general’s decision. It was right as a legal matter — and as a moral one, too.…  Seguir leyendo »