Samar Ali

Media Appearances

• Atlanta ‘Cop City’ Cases Test Use of Domestic-Terrorism Charges Against Protesters

  “It all comes back to Georgia,” said Samar Ali, a Vanderbilt University research professor of law and political science. “How we frame this moment will set the precedents.”

  February 24th, 2023

• White House hopes for light at the end of its tunnel

  “I think it’s a reset moment for us. I think that this is a time for our country to pull together,” said Samar Ali, a Vanderbilt University research professor of law and political science and former White House fellow to President Obama. “I feel like in that State of the Union address on Tuesday night, Biden found his voice and he demonstrated a steady head in times of crises and chaos.”

  March 5th, 2022

• Ground Zero for God

  On the 20th anniversary of 9/11 we hear how it affected the faith of three people.

  September 12th, 2021

• 'It’s just rubbish': Experts doubt Taliban's promises on women and girls

  Samar Ali, a Muslim American international lawyer in Nashville, Tennessee, said the women she has spoken to in Afghanistan remain terrified and unconvinced by the Taliban. “There is a lot of fear, there is a lot of concern for safety, and there’s also shock in how fast things changed,” said Ali, a Vanderbilt University law professor who has been working with human rights groups to safely evacuate people from Afghanistan.

  August 19th, 2021

• Former U.S. Sen. Bob Corker: Afghan government bound to fall without U.S. support

  Samar Ali, law professor at Vanderbilt University with experience mediating the Syrian conflict, said the assistance the U.S. provided the Afghan military simply wasn't working. Former officials stationed in Afghanistan have sounded the alarm for years that America's military plan in the nation required further scrutiny, she said.

  August 17th, 2021

• 'Healthy debate' at the heart of Vanderbilt project to heal a divided country

  One of the first steps is listening, project co-chair Samar Ali told The Tennessean. "When you begin to listen to the other person, you humanize them," Ali said. "When you humanize them, you start to empathize with their story. You start to see their perspective. You start to check your bias. When you begin to then empathize with them, you start exploring common ground."

  February 3rd, 2021

• 'I solemnly swear': 5 things Biden needs to do as he takes office amid historic turmoil

  Biden takes office amid "a perfect storm – the pandemic, polarization, our economy and social-justice issues," said Samar Ali, co-chair of Vanderbilt University's Project on Unity and American Democracy. "We have a vaccine for one of those things. We don't have a vaccine for the others."

  January 19th, 2021

• Tennessee Voices, Episode 55: Samar Ali, founder and CEO of Millions of Conversations

  Among the many early steps we have taken is to listen and use our platforms to present viewpoints responding to the ad. The first guest column we published on the subject was by Samar Ali, an attorney and president and founder of Millions of Conversations, a Nashville-based nonprofit dedicated to human and civic engagement.

  June 24th, 2020

• These Americans are changing the world — and they're all under 40

  Samar Ali: "Born to Syrian and Palestinian immigrants in Tennessee, Ali served as a counterterrorism adviser as a White House Fellow under President Barack Obama and is currently an attorney at Bass Berry & Sims and director at Lodestone Advisory Group."

  October 27th, 2017

• When the Government Can’t Protect Your Firm From a Cyberattack

  Samar Ali, an attorney at Bass Berry & Sims who also is a professor of law at Vanderbilt University and previously worked in the Obama administration on counterterrorism and cybersecurity issues, speaks about why companies shouldn’t rely on the government to protect them against cyberattacks, and what they should be doing to take responsibility for their own defense.

  January 4th, 2017