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| U.S. Officials Met With Belgians on Security Concerns Before Attacks | U.S. Officials Met With Belgians on Security Concerns Before Attacks |
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| WASHINGTON — A “foreign fighter surge team” of experts from the F.B.I., the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security met with their Belgian counterparts a month before the Brussels terrorist attacks to try to correct gaps in Belgium’s widely criticized ability to track terrorist plots, American officials said. | |
| The half-dozen experts focused on long-term structural fixes to the Belgians’ failure to share intelligence effectively and to tighten porous borders, but not on providing information about suspected Islamic State operatives. The recommendations, even if accepted, would not have prevented the attacks at the Brussels Airport and in the city’s subway last month, the officials said. | |
| But the gaps addressed in two days of meetings, held at Belgium’s request at the United States Embassy in Brussels, underscore the urgency and the frustration senior American officials say they feel as they prod many European allies to embrace the kind of counterterrorism lessons the United States learned after the Sept. 11 attacks. The American experts have also visited Greece and are expected to travel to France and Germany in the coming weeks, Obama administration officials said. | |
| The team was part of a little-noticed White House plan announced after the Paris terrorist attacks in November to help Western European allies shore up their defenses and borders to avert the next big attack that European and American terrorism officials feared was inevitable. | The team was part of a little-noticed White House plan announced after the Paris terrorist attacks in November to help Western European allies shore up their defenses and borders to avert the next big attack that European and American terrorism officials feared was inevitable. |
| President Obama, speaking at a summit meeting on nuclear security in Washington last week, alluded to the deployment of the “surge teams” to Belgium and emphasized, “We simply cannot afford to have critical intelligence not being shared as needed — whether between governments or within governments.” | |
| European nations still refuse to share basic intelligence, even within a government, leading to blind spots across the Continent that make it easier for terrorist groups to strike. Brussels alone has more than a dozen different police forces, and French intelligence, police and judicial officials do not routinely share terrorism information, American intelligence and counterterrorism officials said. | European nations still refuse to share basic intelligence, even within a government, leading to blind spots across the Continent that make it easier for terrorist groups to strike. Brussels alone has more than a dozen different police forces, and French intelligence, police and judicial officials do not routinely share terrorism information, American intelligence and counterterrorism officials said. |
| “Europe is vulnerable to terrorist threats in part because of the lack of commitment to sharing intelligence among security services and in part because of the lack of effective border enforcement,” said Matthew G. Olsen, a former director of the National Counterterrorism Center. “As a result, a trained and committed terrorist can travel with relative ease to Syria and back to his home country in Western Europe without being detected and then plot and execute an attack.” | “Europe is vulnerable to terrorist threats in part because of the lack of commitment to sharing intelligence among security services and in part because of the lack of effective border enforcement,” said Matthew G. Olsen, a former director of the National Counterterrorism Center. “As a result, a trained and committed terrorist can travel with relative ease to Syria and back to his home country in Western Europe without being detected and then plot and execute an attack.” |
| The security situation is aggravated by the fact that many European countries depend on United States intelligence analysis for counterterrorism, but also argue for privacy reasons against more American intelligence collection. “You can’t have it both ways,” Mr. Olsen said. | The security situation is aggravated by the fact that many European countries depend on United States intelligence analysis for counterterrorism, but also argue for privacy reasons against more American intelligence collection. “You can’t have it both ways,” Mr. Olsen said. |
| More broadly, the United States is viewed by its allies as the hub of global intelligence cooperation, especially since there is no central European spy service. But the very same European governments that readily share information with the C.I.A. or the F.B.I. balk at doing the same with their neighbors. | |
| “Many of these countries view their intelligence services in a profoundly proprietary way,” said Daniel Benjamin, a former State Department terrorism coordinator who is a scholar at Dartmouth College. “It’s a huge source of frustration in Washington.” | “Many of these countries view their intelligence services in a profoundly proprietary way,” said Daniel Benjamin, a former State Department terrorism coordinator who is a scholar at Dartmouth College. “It’s a huge source of frustration in Washington.” |
| The shortfalls plaguing Belgium and several other European countries come as no surprise to American officials, but the Islamic State’s sophisticated strikes in the heart of Europe in the past five months have alarmed administration officials. | The shortfalls plaguing Belgium and several other European countries come as no surprise to American officials, but the Islamic State’s sophisticated strikes in the heart of Europe in the past five months have alarmed administration officials. |
| “There’s more work to be done,” Lisa O. Monaco, Mr. Obama’s top counterterrorism and homeland security adviser, told National Public Radio last month. “We knew that before Paris. We knew that before Brussels. And the Belgians knew that as well.” And that is why the Belgians asked for help, Ms. Monaco said. | |
| Now many nations are frantically playing catch-up, American officials said, pointing out that nearly 40,000 foreign fighters have traveled to Syria and Iraq from more than 120 countries, including at least 6,900 fighters who have traveled from the West. Roughly 250 of those were from the United States. The fear is that many will return home, as did some of those involved in the Paris and Brussels attacks. | |
| Andrew M. Liepman, a former deputy director at the National Counterterrorism Center who is now a senior policy analyst at the RAND Corporation, said there were dual challenges ahead for European Union countries to overhaul their internal security bureaucracies as well as to enhance cooperation and intelligence-sharing among themselves. | |
| Some countries, like Germany and the Netherlands, take the need to share seriously, Mr. Liepman said. Others share a common language that engenders trust, most notably the so-called Five Eyes countries: the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. | |
| “I doubt if the E.U. counterterrorism structure can ever be made as rigorous as it needs to be,” Mr. Liepman said. “Too many countries, too much variation in capabilities, in budgets, in seriousness, in threat. It is a lowest-common-denominator affair, where the least-competent service, rather than the most, will set the tone.” | “I doubt if the E.U. counterterrorism structure can ever be made as rigorous as it needs to be,” Mr. Liepman said. “Too many countries, too much variation in capabilities, in budgets, in seriousness, in threat. It is a lowest-common-denominator affair, where the least-competent service, rather than the most, will set the tone.” |
| Despite the Brussels attacks, Obama administration officials said they were hopeful for some progress after the meetings of the “surge teams” of up to 10 experts, which were held in Belgium on Feb. 23 and 24 and in Greece on Feb. 25 and 26. | Despite the Brussels attacks, Obama administration officials said they were hopeful for some progress after the meetings of the “surge teams” of up to 10 experts, which were held in Belgium on Feb. 23 and 24 and in Greece on Feb. 25 and 26. |
| “We identified several areas for additional focus and future cooperation, including related to border controls and watch-listing, and are committed to working closely with our partners in Belgium and throughout Europe,” said John Kirby, the State Department spokesman. “This exchange with Belgium forms part of a broader, ongoing initiative which seeks to deepen and strengthen counterterrorism and security cooperation with a number of European countries.” | “We identified several areas for additional focus and future cooperation, including related to border controls and watch-listing, and are committed to working closely with our partners in Belgium and throughout Europe,” said John Kirby, the State Department spokesman. “This exchange with Belgium forms part of a broader, ongoing initiative which seeks to deepen and strengthen counterterrorism and security cooperation with a number of European countries.” |
| Belgian and Greek officials with knowledge of the meetings could not be reached for comment. | Belgian and Greek officials with knowledge of the meetings could not be reached for comment. |
| Since the Paris attacks, security analysts across Europe, as well as in the United States, have been sharing more information as they receive it, said one senior European counterterrorism official who spoke on the condition of anonymity under his country’s protocols. In the past, spy services typically waited longer to develop tips more fully before passing on the information to other countries. | Since the Paris attacks, security analysts across Europe, as well as in the United States, have been sharing more information as they receive it, said one senior European counterterrorism official who spoke on the condition of anonymity under his country’s protocols. In the past, spy services typically waited longer to develop tips more fully before passing on the information to other countries. |
| In remarks at a security conference at the University of Texas in Austin last week, Ms. Monaco chided allies for not moving faster to remove the barriers to increase cooperation and information-sharing among agencies, a task the United States has fitfully carried out since 9/11. | |
| “Those types of walls are things we managed to break down and overcome,” Ms. Monaco said. “Our European allies have got to get to that place, and then be able to share both within their own services and then across borders.” | “Those types of walls are things we managed to break down and overcome,” Ms. Monaco said. “Our European allies have got to get to that place, and then be able to share both within their own services and then across borders.” |