For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 25, 2003
Counterterrorism Cooperation Fact Sheet
U.S.-EU Summit
U.S.-EU Counterterrorism Cooperation
On June 25, 2003 at the U.S.-EU Summit in Washington, Extradition and
Mutual Legal Assistance Agreements were signed, giving police and
prosecutors on both sides of the Atlantic new tools for fighting
terrorism and other serious crimes.
These agreements are the latest
result of U.S. -EU counterterrorism cooperation that has been close
and productive in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks:
The U.S. has worked effectively with law enforcement authorities
in EU member states to investigate suspected terrorists and
terrorist groups. We have arrested and are prosecuting suspected
terrorists, and have disrupted terrorist networks.
We are implementing U.S.-EUROPOL Agreements signed in December
2001 and in December 2002, which enable the exchange of trend and
personal data on terrorism and terrorists between law enforcement
authorities.
We coordinate closely on the designation of terrorist groups and
the freezing of their assets. The EU has designated most of the
groups and individuals listed by the U.S. for asset freezing, with the
notable exceptions of the Hamas "political wing" (the "military wing"
has been listed), and Hezbollah.
The EU is now considering designating
Hamas in its entirety, in recognition of that group's violent efforts
to disrupt the Middle East peace process.
In January 2002, U.S. Customs launched the Container Security
Initiative (CSI) to prevent global containerized cargo from being
exploited by terrorists.
The U.S. has bilateral CSI arrangements with
eight EU member states and is working with the European Commission to
reach a roadmap for future cooperation that will promote the prompt and
successful implementation of CSI throughout Europe and increase the
security of global trade.
To identify passengers that are possible terrorists and other
serious criminal offenders the Bureau of Customs and Border
Protection and the Transportation Security Administration require
access to airline Passenger Name Record (PNR) data.
We are continuing
discussions to reach a permanent solution which would allow
uninterrupted access to PNR data from carriers that may be subject to
the EU data privacy laws. We look forward to finding a solution that
meets U.S. statutory and security needs as well as satisfies EU privacy
concerns.
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