(Newswire.net — March 30, 2016) — Until now, it had been a long open secret, but after the latest attacks in Brussels, the US media is publicly discussing how capable European secret services are in protecting the people.
The latest terrorist attack in Belgium has weakened European security and further heightened the fear of mistakes among the secret services, says the New York Times.
The media house, as with a lot of others from the US, concluded that Europe has become more vulnerable. This is indicated by the fact that the police and secret services, after the attack in Paris, had not succeeded in thwarting the attacks in Brussels.
European secret services were unable to provide resistance to a deep-rooted terrorist network, writes The New York Times, as they went on to call Belgium the wealthiest failed state in the world.
One of the most prominent security experts, David R. Ignatius, journalist and novelist, has spread scathing criticism on account of all the European countries in the Washington Post.
He concluded that Brussels pointed out the dysfunctionality of Europe in relation to their safety in a shocking way.
Carl Hvenmark Nilsson of the Brookings Institute’s Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) told the Deutsche Welle that the latest terrorist attacks have demonstrated that there are still holes in the cooperation of European secret services.
Nilsson said that there is no comprehensive information exchange among the European secret services. He criticizes the rivalry among secret services, even within individual countries.
The trust of the Americans in the European secret services has never been high, with the exception of France and Great Britain. German secret services are also competent, writes David Ignatius.
Many American experts see only one solution: the secret services must be forgiven of conceit and vanity and work in closer cooperation.
Nilsson said that they need rigorous approach when it comes to the exchange of classified secret information. He compared the currently weak cooperation with the rivalry between the CIA and FBI before the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11th, 2001.
He concludes that the US should take the lead in order to connect all the secret services.