Intelligence Disconnect and the Brussels Bombing

At a busy intersection in the Etterbeek area, several police officers suddenly burst into a cafe where people usually just gathered to smoke. Pistols in hand, last Tuesday afternoon they moved quickly to search every corner. Then they left just as quickly as they had come. There was no fuss.

Search followed search in the midst of increasingly tight security in Belgium in the aftermath of the terror bombings at Brussels' Zaventem Airport and Maelbeek Metro Station that morning. The attacks, which killed 30 people, left locals in a precarious situation, completely disrupting their daily routines.