World Europe Berlin Attack Exposes Gaps in European Security Network Suspect’s path to continent reflects broader issues of coordination, data-gathering and porous borders By Matthew Dalton
http://www.wsj.com/articles/berlin-attack-exposes-gaps-in-european-security-network-1482452411
PARIS—The prime suspect in the Berlin truck attack arrived in Europe five years ago, at the leading edge of a wave of nearly uncontrolled immigration. That influx, culminating in the 2015 mass arrival of refugees, has exposed the region to security threats that will linger far into the future.
The path of the suspect—a 24-year-old Tunisian named Anis Amri who served jail time in Italy, then was detained briefly and released in Germany—has laid bare multiple failings in Europe’s security apparatus, including poor cooperation between national governments, porous borders and lack of biometric data to identify people who use false identities.
Compounding those problems, the rise of Islamic State and Germany’s decision to throw open the door to refugees last year has left security services overwhelmed as they try to track jihadist The attacks in Paris in 2015 and Brussels in March confirmed fears that Islamist groups had exploited refugee flows to smuggle operatives into the heart of Europe. Investigators have determined most of the assailants in those cases traveled from Syria through the Balkans and then Central Europe along with a river of refugees in the summer and fall of 2015.
Around the same time, Mr. Amri was released after four years in an Italian prison for starting a fire at a refugee shelter. The authorities ordered him to return to Tunisia. Instead, he headed to Germany, where he roamed freely using a series of false identities and sought asylum.
His path to Berlin is prompting calls for Europe to fix the longstanding security flaws of the Schengen Zone, which allows border-free travel throughout much of the region.
“We are very late, and we’re in the process of catching up,” said Georges Fenech, chairman of the French parliamentary committee that investigated the Paris attacks. “Because today, these terrorists move freely in the Schengen area. From the moment they enter with the migrants, they pass borders without much difficulty.”
Overtaxed security agencies dropped 24-hour surveillance of Mr. Amri this year when they failed to find enough evidence to make him a high-priority target. Mr. Amri had been under scrutiny after authorities discovered links between him and a radical cleric.
Police detained him in July when they discovered his request for asylum was denied and he was to be deported. But they released him a day later, because of Germany’s strict legal limits on the detention of migrants and Tunisia’s unwillingness at the time to take him back. CONTINUE AT SITE
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