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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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