SCENESETTER: FBI DIRECTOR MUELLER'S BERLIN VISIT

S E C R E T BERLIN 002303

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FBI FOR THE DIRECTOR
DOJ FOR INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS UNIT CHIEF STUART WIRTZ

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/10/2016
TAGS: PTER KJUS ASEC PGOV ETTC CVIS PREL KHLS GM
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER: FBI DIRECTOR MUELLER'S BERLIN VISIT

REF: BERLIN 1995

Classified By: Acting Deputy Chief of Mission John K. Bauman
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary. German officials welcome your visit to
Berlin to show the strength of U.S.-German law enforcement
and counterterrorism cooperation; we want you to use the
visit to strengthen it further. You can underscore to nearly
all key law enforcement decision-makers the need for
uncomplicated data exchange to fight common threats. While
Germany is enhancing data exchange with its EU partners, the
Germans have been reluctant to consider ways to enhance
similar data-sharing with the U.S. The new German
government, with Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble in the
lead, is further improving its counterterrorism laws and so
Schaeuble who travels to Washington a week after your visit,
may be particularly receptive to your message. End Summary.

Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble
--------------


2. (C) Your meeting with Minister Schaeuble sets the stage
for his visit to Washington one week later. In DC, Schaeuble
will meet Vice President Cheney, Attorney General Gonzales,
Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff, and Congressional
leaders. Schaeuble, one of the icons of the German Christian
Democratic Party (CDU),succeeded Helmut Kohl as CDU
chairman, and was considered a shoe-in also to succeed Kohl
as Chancellor, when a campaign finance scandal hurt them both
and led to Social Democrat Gerhard Schroeder's September 1998
election victory. Schaeuble is confined to a wheelchair due
to an assassination attempt in October 1990, nine days after
reunification, by a mentally unstable person. Schaeuble,
also Interior Minister at that time, worked closely with U.S.
officials as one of the architects of German reunification.
Schaeuble is a staunch transatlanticist and is considered the
CDU's foremost strategic thinker. His areas of expertise
include foreign and security policy, and he had actually been
named as "shadow" foreign and defense minister during the
2005 election campaign that resulted in the CDU returning to
power as senior partner in the current Grand Coalition.


3. (C) Schaeuble is outspoken in the coalition government
with the Social Democrats in urging more aggressive German
counterterrorism actions. His stances sometimes attract
criticism even from fellow ministers (e.g., Justice Minister
Zypries),but he persists and often prevails; below in para
eight is a list of legal reforms his Ministry is pursuing,
sometimes by pushing the Justice Ministry as far as it will
go. Schaeuble defends interrogations to prevent terrorism --
Zypries does not. On the other hand, like Chancellor Merkel,
Schaeuble speaks out against Guantanamo.


4. (C) Given Schaeuble's counterterrorism and trans-Atlantic
convictions, he may be willing and able to break logjams and
find new ways to work more closely with the U.S. He has
instructed his staff, for example, to find a way to
bilaterally share airline Passenger Name Records (PNR) data
with the U.S., in case the EU is unable to re-establish a
legal basis for PNR data sharing before the September 30 EU
court-imposed deadline. The German data privacy commissioner
opposes the move and claims it cannot be done legally, but
Schaeuble told his ministry to find a legal way to do it.

Counterterrorism Landscape
--------------


5. (S) The July 6 arrest of Redouane El Habhab and the July
31 discovery of unexploded suitcase bombs in German trains
has kept the issue of terrorist threats prominently featured
in German newspapers. German counterterrorism experts,
including the leadership figures you will meet, are conscious
of the risks Germany faces. Polls tend to reveal, however,
that the German public is not as concerned about terrorism as
are citizens of EU neighbors such as the UK or the
Netherlands. Bilateral counterterrorism cooperation is very
strong, although there are limits and obstacles.


6. (S) Press allegations and exaggerations (e.g., renditions,
secret detention centers, German assistance to the U.S.

SIPDIS
during the Iraq war) have negatively affected informal
information sharing. A Bundestag Investigation Committee is
researching these issues; German officials tell us they
sometimes spend half their day reviewing old files for
relevant information to provide to the Committee. The
creation of the committee has also cast a shadow over some
informal information sharing, which officials now fear the
press or the Bundestag may later reveal, rendering German
officials personally liable. Some German law enforcement
offices that used to provide information quickly and
informally now require U.S. Letters Rogatory.


7. (C) Another concern is EU Data Privacy policy. Proposed
EU regulations might be used to require data privacy officer
case-by-case approval of law enforcement data sharing. This
possibility could significantly disrupt information sharing.
At the same time, a German initiative -- the so-called Pruem
agreements -- tightens law enforcement cooperation with
select EU partners, enabling, for example, nearly instant
sharing of fingerprints and other key data. German leaders
need to understand how illogical and unwise it is for Germany
to take these steps with its EU partners, while degrading
cooperation with the U.S.

Counterterrorism: Legal Landscape
--------------


8. (C) The Christian Democrat - Social Democrat German
coalition government took office November 2005 with a pledge
to strengthen Germany's counterterrorism laws. The first
results are in and there is more to come.

-- A draft law broadens and simplifies the three German
security agencies' access to airline, European travel,
vehicle, bank, delivery and telecom data, and renews sunset
provisions from post-9/11 laws set to expire January 2007.
The government plans to present the draft bill to the
Bundestag this fall and see it enacted by the end of the year.

-- A Constitutional Reform package grants the Federal Office
of Criminal Investigation (BKA) expanded preventative powers
in terrorism investigations. The reform still requires
implementing legislation, however.

-- A new law implementing the EU Arrest Warrant took effect
August 2. The Constitutional Court voided the previous law
July 2005 and called for better extradition protections for
German nationals, which the new law includes. German
officials tell us they will now act on the Spanish
extradition request of Mamoun Darkazanli, a Hamburg based
German-Syrian national and suspected al-Qaida financier.

-- The Interior Ministry is drafting a bill to broaden the
Ministry's ability to ban organizations. In 2005, a court
overturned the ban of a PKK-linked publication. The Ministry
is rewriting the law to reimpose the ban.

-- The Interior Ministry is drafting a bill to create a
combined terrorist database for the German interagency Joint
Counterterrorism Center (GTAZ) to simplify information
sharing (police/security service and federal/state).

-- The Justice Ministry drafted a bill broadening the ability
to turn state's evidence and another bill to regularize plea
bargaining. The Ministry states both bills aim to give
prosecutors additional tools to obtain convictions.

-- The government also plans to draft a new Aviation and
Maritime Security bill to address terrorist threats from the
sky and from the seas.


9. (C) Some of the changes above address U.S. priorities.
Other changes we seek are in our suggested points for you
(below). Others include longer prison sentences, lower
burdens of proof for asset freezes and convictions, tighter
laws against leaking classified information, and less onerous
data privacy rules. In addition, a DoJ priority is the
creation of a way for classified material to be used and
protected in court.


10. (U) The July the U.S. Senate ratified the U.S.-German
Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty. The Bundestag is to ratify
it in October. This agreement -- and the US-EU Agreements on
Mutual Legal Assistance and Extradition -- will improve and
simplify U.S.-German legal cooperation. The President is
expected to send the US-EU agreement to the Senate for
ratification soon.

Points to Make
--------------


11. (S) We propose you make the following points in your
meetings in Germany.
-- Effective law enforcement cooperation requires the ability
to informally share information. We applaud tighter German
cooperation with its EU partners, which shows German
commitment to our shared counterterrorism and law enforcement
objectives. But for Germany to take these steps while at the
same time complicating U.S.-German cooperation with data
privacy and other concerns makes no sense.

-- A valuable 9/11 lesson is the need to share information
across bureaucratic lines. The U.S. and Germany have learned
this lesson because the U.S. has its NCTC, and Germany its
GTAZ, where data is exchanged like never before. Similarly,
we should systematically share information internationally.
We could thwart terrorist acts in Germany by preventing the
entry into Germany of those the U.S. believes to be
terrorists, and vice versa. We are prepared to be as
flexible as possible in how we implement such a program.

-- Separately, we have sought exchange of fingerprint data,
which we know poses a challenge. Biometrics, however, are
the future of law enforcement data, and Germany is enabling
sharing with EU partners. The vast U.S.-German trade,
investment, and travel argue for at least as much U.S.-German
cooperation.

-- The Madrid and London bombings drove home the threat of
"home-grown" terrorists. Germany has one of the largest
Muslim population in Europe -- 3.2 million, 2.4 million of
whom are Turkish. Minister Schaeuble are organized Germany's
first high-level "summit" with German Muslim leaders in late
September (after your visit) which will include some known to
have extremist views, such as Milli Gurus. You should ask
him about it.

-- In your meeting with the Federal Office for the Protection
of the Constitution (BfV - domestic security service) you
should address concerns about the Chinese and Russian
espionage.
TIMKEN JR