DHS SEC. RIDGE CARRIES MESSAGE OF COMMON CT CAUSE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 THE HAGUE 002445

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER CVIS SMIG CPAS PREL ATRN NL EUN
SUBJECT: DHS SEC. RIDGE CARRIES MESSAGE OF COMMON CT CAUSE
TO EU - JHA TROIKA MEETING, SEPT. 18, IN THE HAGUE

REF: The Hague 2308


1. SUMMARY: Sec. Ridge discussed implementation of US-EU
Summit Declaration Combating Terrorism with the EU JHA
Troika, stressing the importance of information sharing and
the need to communicate better to the public the existing
high level of CT cooperation between the U.S. and EU. His
message of finding "common solutions to common problems"
resonated well with the EU Troika and press. EU President
Dutch Justice Minister Donner listed his country's
priorities for the presidency, which included addressing
problem of terrorist financing, bringing US-EU Mutual Legal
Assistance and Extradition Agreements into effect, and
attacking terrorist "recruiting/underlying conditions" in
society. Donner said the UK has agreed to hold a follow-on
senior-level JHA meeting during its presidency and hoped
such meetings would become institutionalized. END SUMMARY.

JHA TROIKA
--------------


2. Sec. Ridge, Amb. Sobel, DHS Assistant Secretary Susan
Neely and Department of Justice Senior Counselor at USEU
Mark Richard met Sept. 18 in The Hague with Dutch Justice
Minister Donner, Interior Minister Remkes and Immigration
Minister Verdonk, representing the EU Presidency, Luxembourg
Justice Minister Frieden, representing the incoming
president, EU JHA Commissioner Vitorino, his DG Jonathon
Faull and EU CT Coordinator de Vries, representing the
Commission, and de Kerchove of the EU Council Secretariat.
The agenda covered data protection, transport security,
border management and immigration and cyber security.


3. Donner started the meeting by noting the EU and U.S. were
achieving maximum results in preventing terrorist attacks by
working together. He hoped high-level discussions on JHA
issues, such as this meeting, would be continued through
subsequent presidencies and said the UK had agreed to hold
another such meeting during its presidency (second half
2005). He then listed those priorities, from the US-EU
Summit Declaration, for the Dutch presidency:

- terrorist financing (improve effectiveness of asset-
freezing mechanism, attack cash couriers)
- information sharing among law enforcement agencies to
prevent and disrupt terrorist activity
- stronger US-EU Europol cooperation and information
exchange
- completion of process for implementation of US-EU Mutual
Legal Assistance and Extradition Agreements
- information sharing on lost and stolen passports through
Interpol
- travel document security through incorporation of
interoperable/compatible biometric identifiers
- address recruiting and "underlying conditions" to
terrorism in society.


4. Luxembourg Justice Minister Frieden said Luxembourg and
the UK (the next two EU presidents) agree with the Dutch on
the need to strengthen cooperation with the U.S. on JHA
issues. He recommended putting out a roadmap of objectives
to be achieved leading up to the US-EU Summit during the
Luxembourg presidency.


5. Sec. Ridge suggested adding cooperation on CIP to the
Dutch list. He also urged the parties to look at long-term
objectives as well as short-term issues, e.g., getting PNR
information an hour before departure; sharing lost/stolen
passport information in real time; sharing fingerprint data.
The Secretary noted that many times it would not be
necessary to negotiate new protocols/agreements on issues,
but rather just get the right people together to share views
and discuss lessons learned. In response to Frieden's
question about his priorities for the next 12 months, the
Secretary said they were application of biometrics in travel

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documents and implementation of the US VISIT program.


6. Vitorino said the U.S. and EU had much to be thankful for
in CT cooperation, but there was still much to do. He
expressed appreciation for the advance notice of the US
VISIT/FBI issue. He commended the work of the Public
Dialogue on Border and Transport Security (PDBTS) and
suggested focusing on how US-EU agreements on JHA issues
could help move CT matters in international organizations.


7. When Donner suggested developing some sort of permanent
structure to ensure implementation of the Declaration goals,
de Vries said the parties should not create any redundant or
competing structures. Vitorino noted there were already the
PDBTS and existing US-EU JHA Troika mechanisms. Still, Sec.
Ridge said enhanced cooperation was desirable and announced
DHS would put a permanent representative in Brussels to keep
EU leaders informed of DHS activities and to work on JHA
issues.


8. Focusing on data protection, Donner noted information
sharing was essential to make international CT efforts work
effectively, but a balance needed to be struck between data
protection and security concerns. Donner said it was
important first to explain the respective systems, find
common ground and keep the public informed of developments.
He stressed that adequacy, proportionality and necessity of
the data requested were key to working together on data
protection, as well as keeping the public trust. The
Secretary agreed, saying we needed to make sure we had good

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information and exchanged it quickly with appropriate
safeguards. Vitorino said U.S. and EU needed to make a
persuasive case to the public existing safeguards were
adequate, especially as the EU develops its own Schengen
Information System and Visa Information System, which will
allow EU Member States to share travel document data.
Vitorino said data protection should be included in the
PDBTS agenda.


9. Sec. Ridge spoke of several efforts the U.S. had
undertaken on transport security (sky marshals, hardening
the cockpit door on airliners, improving reporting of
lost/stolen cargoes of hazardous material) and said there
were lots of practical lessons to be shared. He wondered if
an EU working group wanted to come to the U.S. to talk about
lessons learned. De Vries said a technical team was
possible under the CIP "first look" as called for in the
Summit Declaration or under the PDBTS. Sec. Ridge also
noted CSI was an example of great multilateral cooperation
and now the U.S. and EU needed to look at air cargo and mass
transit protections. Vitorino applauded progress on PNR,
but wondered whether PNR data would make its way to the US
VISIT databank. He urged the U.S. and EU to reach out to
parliamentarians/representatives and have them take up these
security issues. He acknowledged steps on port security
were very complex and politically sensitive (i.e., ferries),
but they must have priority for the Member States. He said
boats and trains were more important transport systems for
the EU than air.


10. Vitorino spoke of the EU's recent efforts on biometric
identifiers in travel documents and the political limitation
on the program. He expressed appreciation for Secretaries
Ridge and Powell's successful efforts to obtain a
Congressional extension of the Oct. 2004 deadline for
machine-readable passports for VWP countries. Sec. Ridge
said given current physical impossibility of meeting the
deadline he "had reason to be optimistic" for Congress to
revisit the deadline "as long as significant progress is
made." Frieden said it was important to show agreement
towards a shared goal on this issue and not look like the EU
was simply making changes because of US requirements.
Immigration Minister Verdonk raised the question of
expanding the VWP to include new Member States, noting this
was a very sensitive issue within the EU. The Secretary
said Congress set the eligibility for VWP and it was
determined on a state-by-state/bilateral basis. Vitorino
acknowledged the EU itself had imposed border-crossing
restrictions on the new Members States, noting they would
not be eligible for Schengen participation until 2007 at the
earliest. On the other hand, he announced New Zealand and
Australia had extended visa waiver privileges to the new
Member States. On the margins of the meeting, staff
discussed having DHS experts meet with and inform non-VWP EU
countries of the specific standards they need to meet in
order to become eligible for VWP.


11. Sec. Ridge spoke of the importance of protecting the
cyber infrastructure because of the potential impact of
disruption. He noted the U.S. and EU had lots to learn from
one another in this area and mentioned the upcoming cyber
security conference in Berlin, co-hosted by DHS and the
German Interior Ministry, which would promote such an
exchange. The Secretary said U.S. and EU must examine
systems and safeguards cooperatively and with the private
sector. De Vries mentioned ENISA, a new EU agency dealing
with cyber security.

JHA TROIKA - PRESS CONFERENCE
--------------


12. After the Troika meeting, Sec. Ridge, Donner and
Vitorino conducted a press conference for more than 80
journalists, primarily from around Europe. All three
stressed the ongoing cooperation between the U.S. and EU in
combating terrorism. In addition, the Secretary emphasized
the importance of information sharing with the EU: "The
heart of combating international terrorism, in our view and
I believe one shared by our colleagues in the EU, is
information sharing. If the right information is shared in
a timely basis with the right people, you can avoid the
consequences of terrorist activity." Sec. Ridge also
reassured the European audience Americans share with
Europeans a belief in the importance of privacy in
information sharing: "Exchanging of information will never
take place independently of the very important discussion on
how we collectively do it in a way that protects civil
liberties and privacy."

BILATERALS - MEETINGS WITH JUSTICE & INTERIOR MINISTERS &
FINANCE MINISTRY & CUSTOMS
-------------- --------------

13. During a bilateral discussion, Donner told the Secretary
of Dutch efforts to re-organize their CT structure (reftel),
which included developing a color-coded alert system.
Donner and Interior Minister Remkes said it was important
for the system not only to inform the public of the threat
but also to let industry and local government know what was
expected of them. Assistant Secretary Neely said the most
effective way to combat "threat fatigue" was to give the
public more information about what the threat really was and
how the government was responding. Sec. Ridge said DHS was
ready to share lessons learned on the alert system. Donner
also said the Dutch would try to advance a number of the
points raised during the JHA Troika discussions bilaterally,
for example on transport security (ISI, CSI, radiological
gates) and information exchange. Remkes also raised the
SAGBATA project, a Dutch-Swiss software program to
facilitate responders to biochemical attack, as a good
vehicle for crisis/consequence management cooperation. Sec.
Ridge welcomed such cooperation and noted NATO was
considering funding SAGBATA.


14. Sec. Ridge also met with Finance Ministry State
Secretary Joop Wijn and Dutch Customs Director Helma

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Nepprus to express appreciation for Dutch participation in
the CSI program, noting the Dutch, by being the first
European country to sign on to the program, had helped drive
international acceptance of CSI. The Secretary said as new
technologies become available to secure the transport chain,
like radiological portal monitoring gates, it would be
important to meet with close friends like the Dutch and
examine what was possible to enhance security. Wijn said
the Dutch were interested in making sure Rotterdam was the
safest port possible and expressed interest in CSI's "Green
Lane" pilot project in Sweden.

PRESS ROUNDTABLE
--------------


15. After his bilateral meetings, the Secretary met with a
roundtable of 9 journalists from eight European countries.
The wide-ranging discussion touched on whether the war on
terrorism could be won, biometrics, the terror risk rating
system in the US and container security initiative among
other topics. Sec. Ridge emphasized the U.S. wants to
secure its borders while keeping its doors open. He
acknowledged the importance of keeping commerce and people
flowing through our borders - and US VISIT and other
security mechanisms were balanced and appropriate. Noting
"it's not just a European issue," the Secretary said most
Americans were also keenly sensitive to privacy issues.


16. This cable has been cleared in draft by DHS.

SOBEL