Americans must respond to the suspected terrorist attack in New Orleans by "defiantly proceeding with their lives," national security expert Juliette Kayyem wrote for The Atlantic.
Authorities have identified the man who killed 10 during New Year's festivities in a vehicle-ramming attack as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old military veteran born in Texas. He reportedly had an ISIS flag on the truck used in the attack — and officials are treating the matter as terrorism, postponing the Sugar Bowl college game.
But that is a mistake, Kayyem warned — it doesn't make security sense, and it further gives terrorists what they wanted in the first place.
ALSO READ: Merrick Garland's last task and the explosive evidence that could save America
"The decision should be based less on emotion and more on the level of ongoing risk, and the available security, for those who are asked to continue with their lives," she wrote. "First, can the situation legitimately be described as no longer posing a continuing danger? In 2015 in Paris, a wave of terror attacks over one long night resulted in 130 dead. The entire country was placed under what amounted to a 3-month lockdown, with most public events cancelled. That made some sense, given the sophistication and planning behind that attack, and the fact that a concert hall and sporting venue were targeted. As of this writing, though, New Orleans and federal officials have been insistent that they believe the immediate threat has passed."
Furthermore, it doesn't make sense to shut things down when there isn't a clear metric for when would be safe enough to reopen, Kayyem continued.
"This was the dilemma after the Boston Marathon bombings on a Monday in 2013, when the two terrorists initially evaded law enforcement ... European cities such as Brussels have faced the same issue after major attacks. It is easy to close down but harder to have metrics for what is perfectly safe, since that is an impossible standard."
And then there's the question of whether the required security to keep things open would be too stifling for the city's economic activity, which doesn't appear to be the case here either.
With all that to consider, Kayyem believes New Orleans should go about its business as usual — and do so with a mind for lifting and comforting one another.
"After the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush tried to calm a grieving nation by telling citizens to still 'go shopping for their families,'" she noted.
While this quote received a lot of criticism at the time, "the for is often forgotten in the retelling. No matter how terrible an attack, we still need to be there for one another — whether gathering or grieving or just watching a football game."
