Re: Business as usual
@John Brown (no body)
"As with pretty much every terror attack across Europe in the last 10-15 years, those acts were carried out by people "known" to the security services, but they still managed to plot, plan and carry out their attacks, despite all the data gathering, It make one wonder if they spent a little less money on collecting and scrabbling through all of our data, they might have ,more to spend on actually surveilling some of these suspects they already "know" about."
Er, aren't you making a chicken and egg argument here? In your own personal view, what is it that makes someone a "suspect" in the first place?
As for what to do about a person "known" to the security services, that's is indeed a matter of resources, etc. All the way through history I'm sure spy masters have complained about a lack of resources. Francis Walsingham certainly did.
If someone is seen to possess a gun or explosives it's easy - bang to rights straight away. That's more difficult in countries where guns are legal, especially the USA. I'm sure its far more difficult if the plot doesn't involve use of illegal items like cars and knives.
From what I've read in the press, the situation in Europe seems to stem partly from the Belgians for years not wanting to intrude on a community that sprung up in Brussels, and European governments not realising that open borders means your security is only as good as the weakest state in the zone. Political Correctness is all very well and good, but the world is sometimes an ugly place requiring ugly controls to stop it getting worse. Doing something ugly early on seems to be something the Belgians were too squeamish about.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
