Skip to content. | Skip to navigation

Personal tools
Sections
You are here: Home Breaking news US Senate rebukes Europe on airline security

US Senate rebukes Europe on airline security

19 May 2011, 20:47 CET
— filed under: , , ,

(WASHINGTON) - The US Senate has passed a symbolic resolution rebuking the European Union (EU) over what lawmakers charge is a reluctance to exchange airline passenger data to deter extremist attacks.

The non-binding measure, unanimously approved late Wednesday, scolds Europe over the sharing of so-called passenger name record (PNR) information to pre-screen international travelers 10 years after the September 11 attacks.

"Terrorists still want to use airplanes as weapons of mass destruction against us," said Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, an independent and a key author of the measure.

Lieberman said the United States "simply cannot accept" any EU efforts to weaken an existing agreement on sharing such information that is "an important part of our layered defenses against terrorism."

The resolution notably urges the US Department of Homeland Security "to reject any efforts by the European Union to modify existing PNR data sharing mechanisms in a way that would degrade the usefulness of the PNR data for identifying terrorists and other dangerous criminals."

It also opposes "any agreement that would impose European oversight structures on the United States; and opposes any effort by the European Union to interfere with counterterrorism cooperation and information sharing between the Department of Homeland Security and non-European countries."

Under US law, airlines must provide PNR information on all flights, allowing US Customs and Border Protection officials to pre-screen international flights 72 hours before their scheduled departure times by matching PNR data against existing terrorist "watch lists" and criminal and immigration databases.

Europe's parliament voted in November 2010 to demand proof "that the collection, storage, and processing of PNR (passenger name record) data is necessary" to prevent and combat terrorism and serious transnational crime.

It also called for the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, "to explore less intrusive alternatives" and said PNR data "shall in no circumstances be used for data mining or profiling".

PNR "is an important tool in the fight against terrorism as it assists security personnel in identifying possible threats, before they arrive in our country," said Senator Susan Collins, the top Republican on Lieberman's panel.

"Any weakening of the European Union-United States PNR agreement would undermine the progress we have made to keep our country safe," said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein.


Document Actions