La Salle Professor: Only A Matter Of Time Before Attacks Like One In Paris Start Happening Here
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Gary R'Nel spoke with Ed Turzanski, the John Templeton Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and a Political Science Professor at La Salle University, on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT about the terrorist attacks carried out in Paris over the course of three days last week.
Turzanski said it was troubling that law enforcement agencies were aware of their activities but still could not stop them.
"This was an organized, coordinated cell of individuals who have direct contact with Al Qaeda, and most disconcertingly of all, French counter terror officials knew of these individuals, knew of the connections to Al Qaeda, and much as the case with the Tsarnaev brothers in the Boston bombing, law enforcement and counter-terror people, knowing of the connection, but then we have to ask what did they do with the information? How is it that someone who was known to have these connections can be in a position to carry out an attack the way we saw?"
He believes it is only a matter of time before more attacks like the one in Paris start occurring more frequently.
"If we're going to devote the resources we do to trying to find the connections...and despite these connections being made, individuals like these two in Paris continue to wreak mayhem because, not just French society, but also our society, hasn't yet figured out what to do with these individuals. This points to another problem that is going to come our way. We're not going to duck this. Britain's head of MI5, which is analogous to our FBI, gave a very stern warning...where he said, 'Paris was a prelude. There are attacks coming our way.' They will likely be mass casualty attacks aimed at transportation nodes, and also all of those iconic sites that are visited by tourists and places where people congregate in large numbers."
Turzanski worries that the U.S. does not do enough to secure our borders and this will entice terrorists into attempting to enter the country illegally.
"The appalling lack of security on our borders has been an invitation for terrorists who find common cause with drug and human traffickers. Borders are critical to the safety of a country. They can be breached in any number of ways, but it doesn't mean that you don't put a lock on your front door."