U.S.-AUSTRIA C/T COOPERATION: INTERIOR MINISTRY

C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENNA 002920 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR S/CT AND EUR/AGS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/21/2022 TAGS: PTER PREL AU SUBJECT: U.S.-AUSTRIA C/T COOPERATION: INTERIOR MINISTRY PRESENTS AMBITIOUS AGENDA REF: VIENNA 2861 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Scott Kilner. Reasons: 1.4(b) and (d) Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) USG and Austrian Interior Ministry officials met Nov. 10 to carry forward the discussions initiated by Austrian Interior Minister Platter during his Oct. 24-25 visit to Washington on enhanced U.S.-Austrian counter-terrorism (C/T) cooperation. The Austrian side also presented a series of proposals focused both on improved bilateral cooperation and on comparing the two countries' C/T laws and policies. The Interior Ministry officials made clear that the latter was aimed at building a case for strengthening Austria's own C/T legal structures. End Summary. Background -------------- ¶2. (U) A series of visits from September to November have led to a much-intensified U.S.-Austrian dialogue on C/T. FBI Director Mueller and State C/T Coordinator Dailey (reftel) visited Vienna in September and November, respectively, the latter leading an inter-agency C/T delegation. Most significant was Austrian Interior Minister Platter's Oct. 24-25 visit to Washington, during which he met with Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff, DCI Hayden, and DNI McConnell. During his visit Platter made clear his desire to work more closely with the U.S. To follow-up the Minister's initiative, DHS Director for Europe Mark Koumans, accompanied by senior Embassy officers representing State, FBI, and DHS met for four hours Nov. 10 with Interior Ministry (MoI) Dep. Director General Wilhelm Sandrisser and Bilateral Affairs Director Kurt Hager. Discussion -------------- ¶3. (C) Hager opened the discussion stating that Minister Platter, upon his return to Vienna, had tasked the Ministry to develop an action plan to address the issues the Minister had heard about in Washington. Sandrisser and Hager then outlined their proposals, which they would shortly present to the Minister for his formal approval. Hager explained that the MoI was seeking assistance in revamping Austria's C/T regime, to include law enforcement techniques and capabilities, enhanced legal authority and, possibly, specialized judicial systems. Hager and Sandrisser explained that they realized they would need to coordinate their activities with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and, especially, Justice, but that they would like to limit initial exchanges with the U.S. to MoI personnel. Hager said the Ministry sought to work bilaterally with several nations, including the U.S., to build a body of knowledge and, he implied, develop a strong case that the Ministry could then use in inter-agency discussions with other ministries, especially Justice, that are less convinced of the need for a more robust C/T regime in Austria. ¶4. (C) MoI would also like enhanced law enforcement "best practices" exchanges and training opportunities in the areas of C/T, human trafficking, and child pornography. The Ministry was also open to enhanced data and information exchange and specifically requested whether Austria could "accede to" the agreement now being negotiated between Germany and the U.S. on the sharing of fingerprint, DNA, and watchlist information modeled on the EU's "Pruem" Agreement. Sandrisser showed a copy of the draft agreement and indicated the German negotiators had provided it. He said his preference was that Austria acceded the same day as Germany and commented that Austria would accept whatever the Germans had negotiated. Hager stressed that privacy/data protection issues would have to be resolved in conjunction with agreement on bilateral exchanges. Hager strongly suggested that the best way for the U.S. to proceed would be to reach agreement with the EU on data protection in law enforcement matters. He was familiar with the ongoing negotiations of the U.S.-EU High Level Group to create a trans-Atlantic framework for data protection, asked for the latest draft text, and hoped the talks would soon reach a conclusion. -- Proposed Agenda ¶5. (C) Sandrisser and Hager set forth the following specific agenda for further exchanges in the next six-to-nine months: a) DNA and Fingerprint Data Exchange and Data Protection Talks: A delegation of Austrian technical experts would visit the U.S. in the first quarter of 2008 for discussions with U.S. counterparts. The delegation would be particularly interested to see and learn about U.S. practices regarding the handling of fingerprints, DNA, and watchlists. To that end, the U.S. side should include experts on data privacy. Discussion would include (or perhaps be prefaced by) a preliminary exchange of papers on the technical options for exchange. b) C/T Regime Comparison Talks: Sandrisser invited an inter-agency team to meet with MoI in Vienna in the first quarter of 2008 to discuss changes Austria could make to its C/T legal regime and policies to improve its ability to fight terrorism. Topics would include "best practices;" legal tools to conduct electronic surveillance; information sharing and protection of classified materials between agencies and in judicial processes; watch listing; and border screening. The Austrians expressed particular interest in how the U.S. has created special prosecutorial offices and in training of judges to handle C/T cases and classified information. Sandrisser mentioned that Washington interlocutors had impressed upon the Minister the need for Austria to consider making legal changes, and the Minister accepted the message. c) Salzburg Group: Sandrisser described this grouping of the Interior Ministers of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovenia and repeated Minister Platter's invitation to Secretary Chertoff to attend Group's July 2008 Vienna meeting. He elaborated that the Salzburg Group would hold its spring meeting in Prague and its autumn meeting in Budapest. d) Experts Meeting on Trafficking in Persons: In a venue tbd in the first half of 2008, this meeting would focus on intelligence exchange, best practices, and legal tools. The Austrian side would in this meeting would likely be an interagency team and more details would be made available after interagency discussions in Vienna. e) Experts Meeting on Internet Child Pornography: MoI proposes a meeting in Austria in the second half of 2008. DHS Priorities -------------- ¶6. (C) Koumans raised a number of DHS priorities, including the sharing of information on terrorist travel, fighting asylum abuse, obtaining lost and stolen passport information, and sharing of watch lists. Koumans observed that other U.S. agencies also had a great interest in these issues and, depending on the specific topic, one of the major agencies with which the Minister met (DHS and DOJ) might play the leading role in following-up. Hager explained that Austria relies on EU lists and so does not keep formal watch lists; data protection and privacy concerns would also complicate some of the issues for Austria but others could be folded into the discussions of the two delegations Austria had proposed. Comment -------------- ¶7. (C) The Ministry's openness about Austria's problems and its clear desire to try to find both near-term and long-term solutions to them offers an opportunity the USG should not miss. We recognize the challenge dealing with the wide-range of issues raised by the MoI poses to the U.S. inter-agency. Indeed, they are a challenge to the Embassy. Embassy Vienna has created an ad hoc sub-set of our Law Enforcement Working Group to coordinate our engagement on Austria's initiative. In the weeks ahead we will seek to work with Washington agencies to develop a positive response to the MoI proposals. Kilner