Story highlights Brian Goebel: Muslim community is bulwark against attacks by radicalized Muslims

Trump team should drop ideas of Muslim immigrant ban and Muslim registry, he says

Brian C. Goebel is a distinguished fellow at the nonpartisan Stimson Center. The views expressed are his own.

(CNN) President-elect Donald Trump has indicated that preventing terrorist attacks is one of his top national security priorities. In pursuit of this goal, retired Gen. John Kelly, the nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security, and other members of the national security team will have to decide whether to pursue two anti-terror proposals floated during the campaign -- imposing a ban on Muslim immigrants and registering Muslim residents.

The team would be wise to discard these proposals. Not only are these policies divisive and inconsistent with our national character, but they would be subject to numerous legal challenges. The new administration would spend more time defending its proposals than countering the threat posed by fanatical Islamic terror. And these policies, if attempted, would anyway prove to be ineffective and counterproductive.

Brian C. Goebel

Even if we could identify Muslims and prevent them from immigrating, this would be a 21st-century Maginot Line . Muslims can travel to the United States for business or tourism, often without a visa. The immigration ban would thus inexorably lead to an attempted Muslim travel ban, which would be even more impracticable and counterproductive. It would weaken our economy and feed the terrorist narrative that the United States is at war with Islam.

The idea of a Muslim registry suffers from these same defects and one other significant flaw: A key bulwark against terrorist attacks by radicalized Muslims is the Muslim community itself. But rather than incentivize cooperation among Muslims and law enforcement, the proposed registry would antagonize our government's most important allies.

To its credit, the incoming team has thus far focused on eradicating ISIS. Although we cannot defeat the ideology behind ISIS and al Qaeda with military force, reducing the number of ISIS fighters is a worthy national security objective. However, an increased military campaign against ISIS will exacerbate one of our most pressing national security challenges -- identifying and interdicting returning foreign terrorist fighters.

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