Fight terrorism, yes, but don't be terrorised

THERE is one important reason why the deadly attacks by terrorists affiliated with ISIS on the airport and the metro system in Brussels on March 22 are so troubling: The authorities in Belgium had anticipated that radical Islamists groups would seek to afflict such atrocities sooner or later - yet failed to do anything to prevent it.

Much of the blame for the failure to locate and capture the members of the ISIS cell responsible for the murderous attacks in Brussels lies, of course, with the Belgian intelligence and security services. Indeed, media reports published in the aftermath of that act of terrorism point out to the lack of effective collaboration in the fight against terrorism between the Belgians and other intelligence services in Europe and the United States.

This suggests that Belgium and other European governments need to invest more resources in strengthening their capability to anticipate and take preventive action against ISIS and other Islamist terrorist groups operating in Europe, mainly through intelligence gathering and surveillance.