US embassy cable - 04THEHAGUE2445

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