The 9/11 Museum will launch their monthly public program series on April 29th. The series explores current events in the Middle East and the violent spread of Islamist radicalism with leading expert Bernard Haykel. Haykel, a Princeton professor, will discuss the rise of ISIS, and the role ISIS and its rivalry with al-Qaeda play in the multiple conflicts spreading across the Middle East. He will disentangle the geographic, sectarian and ideological factors that pose such a threat to the region – and to the security of the United States.

Bernard Haykel makes frequent media appearances, including PBS, NPR, the New York Times, al-Jazeera and the BBC. The live talk is moderated by Clifford Chanin, the 9/11 Memorial’s Vice President for Education and Public Programs. The Atlantic, in their recent, celebrated cover story What ISIS Really Wants, called him "the foremost secular authority" on the subject. This talk is part of an ongoing series of conversations that will be held in the Museum auditorium, as a way of updating the seemingly constant changes in the status and power of ISIS.