A year ago, a terror attack in Belgium rattled western aviation security officials to the core. The aftershocks continue today as they try to make adjustments to prevent a similar or worse disaster from occurring.
On the morning of March 22, 2016, 32 civilians and three terrorists were killed, and 300 people were injured in three coordinated suicide bombings in Belgium. Two occurred at Zaventem Airport and one at Maalbeek metro station in central Brussels.
"This is a very important moment of unity and collective sympathy for the victims and survivors, involving the general public and the authorities," said Cedric Bisthoven, spokesman from the Belgian Embassy in Washington, in a statement on the anniversary.
He said the diversity of the 32 people who were killed and the hundreds injured from 15 different nationalities is a clear indicator "that by targeting Brussels, the terrorists were aiming not only at Belgium," but the world.
The attacks were executed by members of the so-called "Paris cell," which was responsible for the killing of 130 people and injuring 368 on Nov. 13, 2015 in Paris.
Last year in Belgium, authorities realized that western airport security might be just as vulnerable to attack as that in unstable, war-torn countries because terrorist knowledge continues to evolve…
