Associate Professor Nathan Sales Explains Meaning of Worldwide Travel Alert

Tuesday, November 24, 2015, By Keith Kobland
Nathan Sales

Nathan Sales

Heading into the busy holiday travel season, the U.S. State Department has issued a worldwide travel alert, warning of an increased terrorist threat around the world. What does this mean? Associate Law Professor Nathan Sales, a faculty member at the Institute of National Security and Counterterrorism at Syracuse University, offers his opinion.

“The Paris attacks confirm that Western Europe is home to radicalized groups with military training and the ability to carry out sophisticated and deadly terrorist operations,” says Sales. “Still, the State Department isn’t advising Americans to cancel their travel plans. It’s simply recommending vigilance when we travel abroad. The government hasn’t indicated that there’s a specific terrorist plot in the works. More likely, it issued the alert in response to general terrorist ‘chatter,’ out of an abundance of caution.”

Professor Sales is available for interview by emailing nsales@law.syr.edu, or contacting Rob Conrad at 315-443-4213 or Martin Walls at 315-443-2284.