Security and Data Sharing

In: Policy review: the journal of American citizenship, Heft 154

Abstract

Discusses how to overcome EU-US tensions in the area of personal data sharing under rubric of post-9/11 counterterrorism. The politicized nature of EU integration in the fields of counterterrorism & organized crime fighting is noted, along with how the US federal structure problematizes the establishment of a coherent interagency & intergovernmental strategy for addressing that issue. Although there has been improved transatlantic cooperation, it is suggested that long-term prospects for transatlantic information sharing are not so promising. The problem of guaranteeing protection of private data is addressed before looking at the deleterious impact that the Treaty of Lisbon would have on EU security cooperation & data sharing with the US. It is then contended that proper implementation of the US-EU Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance could substantially improve transatlantic security cooperation. It is suggested that the MLAT could provide the US with the appropriate strategic approach to counterterrorism & crime fighting. Further, MLAT can improve cooperation & set future standards of judicial cooperation internationally, while also fostering the creation of genuinely international, integrated task forces. D. Edelman