The Return of the Jihadi

On February 16th, the Center for the National Interest hosted a discussion on the nature of the threat posed by jihadi fighters returning to their countries of origin. Bruce Hoffman, director of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University, built on his cover story in the January/February edition of The National Interest, discussing the likelihood of terrorist attacks being carried out by returning jihadis and how the Islamic State group’s strategy has evolved to include a greater emphasis on attacks abroad. Paul Pillar, a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, also spoke at the event and interrogated the assumption that the flow of returning jihadis has increased the threat of terrorist attacks on the U.S. homeland. Jacob Heilbrunn, Editor of The National Interest, moderated the event. A full summary of the event may be found here.