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“This morning’s bombings in Brussels were a brutal and cowardly attack on an American ally and on our shared values of democracy and freedom," said Esty. "We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the people of Belgium today. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and all who are still awaiting word from their loved ones."
Esty said that terrorists commit acts like Tuesday's bombing "to instill fear and to tempt us into abandoning our values. But we must not give into fear. We must not turn our backs on our values. In the face of this deadly threat, we must stand as united and determined as ever to defeat terrorism."
She said that the United States must work to defeat groups like ISIS abroad while working to prevent similar attacks at home.
"To accomplish that mission, we must work with our allies to strengthen our intelligence and counterterrorism efforts, cooperate with local law enforcement to identify individuals who may have become radicalized and intervene before they can act, and commit the shared resources required to root out this deadly enemy," she said.
“This morning, terrorists once again struck at the heart of a peaceful city, aiming to use violence and fear to attack the core values of democracy," said Himes. "Our first thoughts are for those killed and wounded and their families. In the coming days, the United States will work closely with our European allies to track down those responsible, bring them to justice and disrupt their networks."
Himes said that these types of attacks "will likely continue as long as violence, extremism and chaos run rampant throughout the Middle East."
"To truly defeat those who would attack us, we must use not only our military, security and intelligence systems to rout them out, but we must work with all nations who have a stake in a peaceful Middle East and a peaceful world to bring stability and order. It will be far easier to track down and destroy terrorists and training camps if we are working with nations that aren't in complete disarray."
“Today, we begin the search for the murderers who took so many innocent lives in Brussels," Himes said. "Tomorrow we must work to address the root causes that are producing these terrorists to prevent further attacks like this.”
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