Ashish Kumar Sen

Fighting ISIS in Libya  Amid concern that the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) is regrouping in Libya, Mohamed Taher Syala, the foreign minister in Libya’s internationally recognized, Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), said the United States must remain committed to defeating the terrorists in his country.

Libya Gets a Helping Hand in Anti-ISIS Fight   A decision by the United States and twenty other nations to provide weapons and training to help Libya’s UN-backed government fight the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) will put pressure on opponents—particularly a popular former General in Benghazi—to rally behind the new administration, said the Atlantic Council’s Karim Mezran.

‘We Reap What We Sow’   European governments, and in particular Belgium, are paying a heavy price for having neglected terrorist sleeper cells that have been forming for well more than a decade in their growing, poorly integrated immigrant communities, said Frederick Kempe, President and CEO of the Atlantic Council.

Brussels Bombings Reflect ISIS’ Growing ‘Attack Capability’ The bombings in Brussels on March 22 are a reflection of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham’s growing “attack capability” in Europe, according to Michael Morell, a former Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency who serves on the Atlantic Council's board of directors.

Paris Suspect’s Arrest Likely Hastened Attack in Brussels, says former CIA Director Michael Hayden Salah Abdeslam’s arrest last week in connection with the Paris attacks likely sped up terrorists’ plans to strike Brussels, according to Michael Hayden, former Director of the  Central Intelligence Agency and an Atlantic Council board member. 

Belgium’s 9/11 The terrorist attacks in Brussels that left at least thirty-six people dead on March 22 represent a failure of US and European intelligence, according to Howard Gutman, a former US Ambassador to Belgium.

ISIS Strikes Brussels: Is This The ‘New Normal’? The terrorist attacks in Brussels represent a collective failure of Western intelligence, underscore the challenges radicalized young Muslims pose to Europe and the United States, but most of all are emblematic of what the Atlantic Council’s Barry Pavel describes as a “new normal.” The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the March 22 attacks—at Brussels’ main international airport and a subway station near the European Union’s headquarters—that left at least thirty-six people dead.

Migrant Deal ‘Reengages’ Turkey with the European Union The deal reached on March 18 to address Europe’s migrant crisis “reengages” Turkey with the European Union, but is a “questionable deal” for Europe, said the Atlantic Council’s Fran Burwell.

Is Dissent Brewing in ISIS’ Ranks Over Plans to Strike the United States, Europe?  A shift from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham’s goals of building a caliphate to attacking Europe and the United States is reportedly causing a rift in the terrorist group’s upper echelons. A lieutenant to ISIS’ self-proclaimed caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, told Martin Chulov, a reporter with the Guardian , that he and at least half a dozen others in the group’s military leadership council don’t believe ISIS can benefit from this shift in strategy.

How Do You Disrupt ISIS’ Social Media Strategy and Safeguard Freedoms?   The Obama administration is “trying to come to grips with” how to prevent terrorists from using technology as a recruiting tool, while at the same time safeguarding individual freedoms, Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the Commander of US Cyber Command and Director of the National Security Agency, said at the Atlantic Council on January 21.

Has Turkey Become a Distraction in the War on ISIS?  Turkey’s entry into the US-led coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) last summer was marked by Turkish airstrikes on Kurdish militias—a departure from the coalition’s mission. In November, Turkey shot down a Russian jet that it said had violated its airspace. Turkey is now involved in a dispute with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi over the presence of Turkish troops at a base in northern Iraq.  Has Turkey become a distraction in the war on ISIS?

British Defense Secretary Calls for Tightening Noose Around ISIS  The US-led coalition that is conducting airstrikes on the Islamic State in Syria should more deliberately target the terrorist group’s infrastructure and “tighten the noose” around its de facto capital Raqqa, British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said at the Atlantic Council on Dec. 11.