Belgian police reportedly rely on the free messaging service WhatsApp to communicate in times of crisis because Brussel’s telecommunications network is vulnerable.
The revelation comes amid an investigation by Belgian authorities into the March Brussels airport attack by elements of the Islamic State. Belgium also served as a critical nexus for planning of the November 2015 Paris attacks, and has one of the largest number of per capita ISIS fighters in the Western world.
Belgian police officials’ use of WhatsApp highlights past criticism of European counter-terror initiatives, namely that they lack the infrastructure to quickly and accurately share information.
“The main lesson is that the Belgian security apparatus has been neglected too much in the past years,” the head of Belgium’s military intelligence unit told The Guardian in the wake of the March attack.
Ringleader of the Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam, is himself a Belgian-born French citizen who hid inside the heart of Brussels for nearly four months before being apprehended by authorities. After Abdeslam’s capture, a nascent cell of ISIS operatives struck the Brussels airport and metro system in retaliation.
“If you talk to any Belgian counterterrorism or intelligence officials, no one—no one—is surprised by this,” senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Thomas Jocelyn, said in the wake of the March 2015 attacks.
Belgium’s after-action report is due for release in March 2017 and will likely propose sweeping changes to the under-threat country’s security infrastructure.
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