FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETIN
BELGIANS FAILED TO ACT ON INTEL PROVIDED BY U.S.
'Institutional mistrust' hampers coordination in Europe
F. Michael Maloof
WASHINGTON – European officials have come to realize since the recent terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels that in addition to porous borders they have very serious systemic problems with communications and intelligence sharing, not only among internal agencies but with counterparts in the European Union’s 28 countries, according to a new report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
A U.S. intelligence official told G2 Bulletin that their Brussels counterparts failed to act on intelligence information passed on by the United States to Belgian authorities regarding two Belgian brothers a week before they carried out the March 22 bombing attacks at the Brussels international airport and in the city’s subway.
The identities of the bombers – Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui – were confirmed by Belgian federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw. In addition to a heads-up by U.S. intelligence, Turkey last year deported Ibrahim to Brussels, saying he had ties to ISIS.
Belgian authorities, however, claimed he and his brother had criminal records but no known ties to terrorism.
Growing Islamic influence
Increasingly, evidence has emerged, especially in Belgium, that criminal elements are attracted to the sense of belonging and purpose provided by radical Islamic beliefs and communities, the U.S. intelligence source, who insisted on anonymity, told G2Bulletin.
The problem has been exacerbated by an increase in Islamic influence in the country since the 1960s, especially in Brussels which has seen a major growth of mosques in which imams teach to disgruntled young men the more extreme form of Islam, Wahhabism.
WND recently reported how Saudi Arabia for years has fueled the jihadist powder keg in Belgium through funding, via the Muslim World League, of Belgium’s universities and cultural institutions in an effort to “clarify the pure image of Islam.”
These developments have emerged in the aftermath of attacks that show Brussels has become a hub of ISIS terrorist networks throughout Europe. While European security officials have been aware of it, they have done nothing about coordinating communication and information-sharing among the 28 member countries of the European Union.
Brussels seems to mirror the dilemma in other EU countries.
Uncoordinated
Observers say that there is a lack of internal coordination between Belgian intelligence agencies of the State Security Service and the military’s General Intelligence and Security Service.
The U.S. intelligence official said the lack of coordination and communication among intelligence officials within and among the EU countries is similar to what the U.S. experienced prior to al-Qaida terrorist attack on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.
Following that event, an effort was made to begin coordination within the U.S. of intelligence and law enforcement information to take timely action against potential terrorist attacks.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2016/03/belgians-failed-to-act-on-intel-provided-by-u-s/#yiRoruGK12cDFoJX.99
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