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Schäuble: Common Values and Common Goals in Fighting Terrorism
Germany and the United States are working together very closely, trustfully and productively on counter-terrorism and international security, German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said on Monday after meeting with US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in Washington, DC. “We have the same goals of defending freedom against those who want to use terrorism to abolish it,” said Schäuble, Germany’s top security official. Schäuble pointed out that Europe and the United States had made progress in cooperation and information sharing during Germany’s EU Presidency earlier this year. That cooperation and coordination needs to continue as the current threats from terrorism can only be addressed with international cooperation, he said. The arrests in Germany earlier this month of three men charged with plotting bomb attacks on US military installations in Germany are an example of that cooperation, Schäuble said. German and US authorities worked together for months, sharing intelligence, before German authorities made the arrests. Schäuble also emphasized the need to uphold the rights and freedoms protected by the German Basic Law and to proceed on a clear legal basis and under clear prerequisites when encroaching on those rights for security reasons. Secretary Chertoff emphasized the same theme of cooperation and common values in greeting Schäuble. “We have to enhance each other’s capabilities as robustly and as forthcoming as possible, thereby protecting privacy rights.” Chertoff said. “We have legal differences, but we have the same set of goals.”
The issue of reconciling personal freedoms and security was also the topic of Minister Schäuble’s speech at the German Marshall Fund on Monday. “It is important to maintain the balance between what is necessary in terms of security and what can be justified under the rule of law,” Schäuble said. “In this respect, there is no categorical trade-off between liberty and security.” While there are EU-US and bilateral agreements on information sharing, Schäuble also pointed out the formation of the EU-US High Level Group on Data Protection. Schäuble called for international discussion on international law issues as the distinctions between internal and external security, peacetime and wartime and combatant and noncombatant become insufficient in the changing security landscape. Speaking with journalists on Tuesday, Schäuble elaborated that a more intense transatlantic security cooperation would include not just improved communication and trust but also a common understanding of the balance between civil rights and security. "If we want to get common decisions, we have to engage in common dialogue," Schäuble said. While in Washington, Minister Schäuble is also scheduled to meet with NSA Director Lt. General Keith Alexander, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, and with members of Congress. September 25, 2007 Links
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