Counter-terrorism efforts
In a world where counterterrorism efforts are constantly dissected in the media and online, almost every policy that is voiced in the public arena, whether it is good or bad … can be placed into one of those two categories: motivation or means.
When putting together any counterterrorism policy, there are bound to be disagreements over the distribution of resources we should commit to addressing motive and means. But no sound strategy should abandon an entire option, let alone dismiss talking about it as too political.
— Juliette Kayyem
CNN
In December, Congress considered legislation by Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, and Representative Peter King, a Republican, that would have given the F.B.I. the ability to prevent gun sales to people it had reason to believe might be connected to terrorism.
An overwhelming majority of Americans—including gun owners and even N.R.A. members—support universal background checks, while strong majorities want to block sales to suspected terrorists and ban high-capacity magazines.
The gun industry lobbyists may be beyond reason, but the lawmakers have a duty to respond to their constituents.
— Editorial Board
The New York Times
It is time now for the United States to think outside the box, use existing technology and harness the power of social media to take the fight to radical Islam. Here is how we can begin to do it now:
1.Establish a nationwide Situational Awareness Hotline.
We need a phone line where people can report suspicious activity through the phone or text message.
2.Unleash the power of Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT).
If 90 percent of our information comes from open-sources, we need to focus more of our resources on OSINT.
— Van Hipp
Fox News
Brexit
The immediate impact of the Brexit vote is economic.
The lasting effect, however, may be political, and with global implications.
The political center has lost its power to persuade and its essential means of connection to the people it seeks to represent.
If the people—usually a repository of common sense and practicality—do something that appears neither sensible nor practical, then it forces a period of long and hard reflection.
The same dangerous impulses are visible, too, in American politics, but the challenges of globalization cannot be met by isolationism or shutting borders.
— Tony Blair
The New York Times
As Felix Salmon wrote at Fusion.net, what happened in Britain was “a wholly unnecessary vote, which was called by Britain’s gormless prime minister, David Cameron, for the sole purpose of trying to engineer a tactical advantage in last year’s general election.”
My hope is that the British vote will also have a positive effect on the United States. Progressive voters must recognize all the similarities between the Brexit appeals to racism and Donald Trump’s attacks on Muslims and Mexicans—and then they must mobilize.
— Charles Kaiser
CNN
The British vote (to leave the European Union) has dealt an irreparable blow to the European project, and the shock is hard to exaggerate.
But this vote is not one that affects Britain alone, and for which just one country will bear the consequences. It puts the cohesion and strength of western liberal democracies at stake in a global environment plagued with uncertainties. Picking up the pieces of this wreckage will require clear-headed decisions and a new approach across Europe. Whether that will happen is now the big uncertainty.
— Natalie Nougayrède
The Guardian
British citizens’ rebellion against the European Union is one more vindication of Trump’s campaign calculus on this side of the pond: Millions of voters in Western countries are furious about unchecked immigration, overweening government regulation and slow jobs growth after a recession that ended seven years ago this month.
Brexit is a big bump for Trump. It ratifies his arguments that citizens should reject the dictates of technocrats, politicians and self-anointed experts.
— Editorial Board
Chicago Tribune
