Beslan provides a chance to study deeper reforms
In the wake of the Beslan hostage tragedy, Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to overhaul what he has admitted is the country's corrupt and ineffective security apparatus. There is no better place to begin than with the country's intelligence network: despite being one of the largest in the world, it failed to detect or prevent the crisis.
The reassessment should also extend to the country's approach to the disputed territory of Chechnya, where years of fighting have laid the groundwork for corruption and economic stagnation, all the while convincing extremists in the independence camp that they have nothing to lose by resorting to terrorism. The tragic Beslan episode is a chance to consider deeper reforms, without which there will only be continued insecurity for Chechens and Russians alike.
Mr Putin rose through the ranks of the KGB secret police and has been credited with breathing new life into the organisation since becoming president. But the intelligence community's attention has been focused elsewhere, not on the militants who aim to bring the Chechen battle to Russian cities. From the beginning of the school siege, there were ever-changing and confusing reports coming from the government about who the hostage-takers were, how many civilians were caught inside and how many had been killed or injured.
Even now, it is not clear how many were killed in the fighting and whether any militants escaped or were captured - and Russian people are unnerved by the possibility that their own government is lying to them.
An equally alarming possibility is that the authorities were caught entirely off guard by the incident, despite evidence the attack was long-planned and well co-ordinated. How could dozens of heavily armed fighters have arrived in the small town undetected? The militants were terrorists determined to inflict harm and no excuses can be made for them. However, the siege, which started only hours after a Moscow subway suicide bombing and a week after two Russian planes were hijacked by similar groups, underscores the vulnerability created by intelligence failings.
The failings extend to Chechnya itself. A big Russian military presence maintained since 1999 has not been able to root out extremist leaders, while a Moscow-backed local government enjoys little legitimacy. Mr Putin's hardline approach there may even be stiffened in response to the recent carnage, but that will bring no guarantee of peace and could even push the rebels into closer alliance with Islamic jihad groups.
A more productive path would see Russia engage with Chechnya's moderate leaders, with the support of international bodies such as Nato and the United Nations - even as it tackles the intelligence shortcomings that made the Beslan disaster possible.
