Transatlantic intelligence and security cooperation

International Affairs

Volumn 80, Issue 4, 2004, Pages

  Aldrich, Richard J ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 84862377180     PISSN: 00205850     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2346.2004.00413.x     Document Type: Review

References (93)

1. On this subject see N. Bensahel, The counterterror coalitions: cooperation with Europe, NATO, and the European Union (Santa Monica: RAND Project Air Force, 2003); Glen Segell, 'Intelligence agency relations between the European Union and the U.S.', International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence 17: 1, Spring 2004, pp. 81-96. The classic functional analysis of intelligence liaison is Bradford Westerfield, 'America and the world of liaison', Intelligence and National Security 11:3, July 1996, pp. 523-60.
2. On this subject see N. Bensahel, The counterterror coalitions: cooperation with Europe, NATO, and the European Union (Santa Monica: RAND Project Air Force, 2003); Glen Segell, 'Intelligence agency relations between the European Union and the U.S.', International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence 17: 1, Spring 2004, pp. 81-96. The classic functional analysis of intelligence liaison is Bradford Westerfield, 'America and the world of liaison', Intelligence and National Security 11:3, July 1996, pp. 523-60.
3. On this subject see N. Bensahel, The counterterror coalitions: cooperation with Europe, NATO, and the European Union (Santa Monica: RAND Project Air Force, 2003); Glen Segell, 'Intelligence agency relations between the European Union and the U.S.', International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence 17: 1, Spring 2004, pp. 81-96. The classic functional analysis of intelligence liaison is Bradford Westerfield, 'America and the world of liaison', Intelligence and National Security 11:3, July 1996, pp. 523-60.
4. NATO press statement by Secretary General, Lord Robertson, on the decision to implement Article 5, 4 Oct. 2001.
5. Rory Watkins, 'Anti-terror chief little known outside Brussels', The Times, 27 March 2004.
6. They are scheduled to report to the European Council on improved intelligence cooperation in the summer of 2004. See summary transcript of joint press briefing by Javier Solana, EU High Representative for the CFSP, and Gijs de Vries, Counterterrorism co-ordinator, 30 March 2004, Brussels, at http://ue.eu.int/pressData/en/declarations/79752.pdf.
7. C. M. Andrew, The growth of intelligence cooperation in the English speaking world, Wilson Center Working Paper no. 83, Nov. 1987; R. J. Popplewell, Intelligence and Imperial defence: British intelligence and the defence of the Indian empire, 1904-1924 (London: Frank Cass, 1995), pp. 147-64.
8. C. M. Andrew, The growth of intelligence cooperation in the English speaking world, Wilson Center Working Paper no. 83, Nov. 1987; R. J. Popplewell, Intelligence and Imperial defence: British intelligence and the defence of the Indian empire, 1904-1924 (London: Frank Cass, 1995), pp. 147-64.
9. Peter Finn and Keith B. Richburg, 'Madrid probe turns to Islamic cell in Morocco', Washington Post, 20 March 2004; J. Lichfield, E. Nash, S. Castle and J. Bennetto, 'Europe must share terror intelligence', Independent, 17 March 2004.
10. Peter Finn and Keith B. Richburg, 'Madrid probe turns to Islamic cell in Morocco', Washington Post, 20 March 2004; J. Lichfield, E. Nash, S. Castle and J. Bennetto, 'Europe must share terror intelligence', Independent, 17 March 2004.
11. 'Jailed Sept. 11 plotter released pending re-trial', Washington Post, 7 April 2004; 'World's only 9/11 convict released due to US non-co-operation', Wall Street Journal, 9 April 2004.
12. 'Jailed Sept. n plotter released pending re-trial', Washington Post, 7 April 2004; 'World's only 9/11 convict released due to US non-co-operation', Wall Street Journal, 9 April 2004.
13. Although the issue is not explored in this paper, one effect of the increasing numbers of multinational intelligence operations, often with an exotic range of partners, is the inability of national mechanisms for accountability and oversight to examine them.
14. On the important development of the EU as an internal security actor across issues of justice, crime and illegal immigration see V. Mitsilegas, J. Monar and W. Rees, The European Union and internal security: guardian of the people? (London: Palgrave, 2003).
15. Ian Black, 'The European dilemma: the Madrid bombings are shifting the balance between civil liberties and security', Guardian, 2 April 2004.
16. In the US the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 set up a special review court in Washington DC and standardized a proportionality test (that the benefits of surveillance outweigh the harms). It also required an 'exhaustion test' to show that more conventional investigatory methods had failed. UK regulations based on Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights are framed in a similar way.
17. American civil liberties groups were in fact rather slow to react to the Patriot Act of 2001 and are only now mounting substantial legal challenges to some its provisions.
18. J. Torpey, The invention of passport surveillance, citizenship and the state (New York and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002).
19. These distinctions between anonymity and privacy draw in part on the Detweilerian thesis on nymity that asserts that human interactions based on honest formal identification systems enjoy a superior quality.
20. C. M. Andrew, 'The making of the Anglo-American SIGINT alliance', in H. B. Peake and S. Halpern, eds, In the name of intelligence: essays in honor of Walter Pforzheimer (Washington DC: NIBC Press, 1994), pp. 95-109.
21. Menno Stekee, 'Major General Bert Dedden', Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 Dec. 2003.
22. J. Guisnel, 'Espionnage: les français aussi écoutent leurs alliés', Le Point, 6 June 1998.
23. The UK Security Service helps to operate an e-mail decryption facility called the National Technical Assistance Centre (NTAC).
24. They involved the usual transatlantic partners together with countries as diverse as Norway, Israel and South Africa. I am indebted to Philip Gregory of St Peter's College, Oxford for information on this subject.
25. The Berne Group consists of 17 member states with representatives from 19 organizations. This draws in part on the Hinsley Lecture 2003, given at the University of Cambridge by Sir Stephen Lander, 'International intelligence cooperation: a modern perspective', forthcoming in Cambridge Review of International Affairs 2004.
26. Annual Report of SÄPO (Swedish Security Service) 2001, http://W.security service.se/Publikationer.annuak_01.doc.
27. Technically the United States has observer status in CTG.
28. Politiets Efterretningstjeneste (PET) [Danish Security Intelligence Service], 'Samarbejdspartnere', http://www.pet.dk/Samarbejdspartnere.aspx.; Swiss Federal Office of Police press release, 'Club de Berne meeting in Switzerland', 28 April 2004, http://internet.bap.admin.ch/e/aktuell/index.htm.
29. Politiets Efterretningstjeneste (PET) [Danish Security Intelligence Service], 'Samarbejdspartnere', http://www.pet.dk/Samarbejdspartnere.aspx.; Swiss Federal Office of Police press release, 'Club de Berne meeting in Switzerland', 28 April 2004, http://internet.bap.admin.ch/e/aktuell/index.htm.
30. In 2002 the Czech Security Information Service (BIS) joined the Middle European Conference's Evaluation Committee, which is focused on these issues: BIS Annual Report 2001, sec. 8, 'Cooperation with intelligence services of foreign powers', http://www.bis.cz/_english/info_.html.
31. Annual Report of the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) 2002, pp. 61-3, http://www.aivd.nl/actueel_publicaties/publicaties/ annual_report_2002.
32. Guy Verhofstadt, the Belgian prime minister, has been prominent in calling for a European intelligence service: R. Minder, 'EU justice ministers to hold "terror" meeting', Financial Times, 16 March 2004.
33. HC 511I minutes of oral evidence taken before the House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee, 31 March 2004, Q38.
34. Perhaps de Vries's most important credential is not his background as a deputy home affairs minister or his reputation as an effective European technocrat, but his obvious commitment to transatlanticism. He chaired the Atlantic Commission from 1991 to 1997; and he has dual Dutch and American citizenship, having been born in New York. Thomas Fuller, 'Dutchman could fill terror post', International Herald Tribune, 25 March 2004.
35. O. R. Villadsen, 'Prospects for a European common intelligence policy', Studies in Intelligence 9, Summer 2000, http://www.cia.gov/csi/studies/summeroo/ art07.html.
36. B. Muller-Wille, For our eyes only: shaping an intelligence community within the EU, Institute of Strategic Studies occasional paper no. 50, Jan. 2004.
37. 'Critics inside intelligence community say that post 9/11, agencies still not sharing Intel', Newsweek, 28 March 2004.
38. W. Rees, 'Justice and internal security', in J. Peterson and M. A. Pollack, eds, Europe, America, Bush: transatlantic relations in the twenty-first century (London: Routledge, 2003), pp. 56-7.
39. Within the UK, cooperation has been enhanced by the creation of the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre QTAC), located at Thames House. On longstanding issues of intrastate liaison within the United States see J. J. Wirtz, 'Constraints on intelligence collaboration: the domestic dimension', International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence 6: 1, Spring 1993, pp. 85-99.
40. On these measures see M. Den Boer and J. Monar, '11 Sept. and the challenge of global terrorism to the EU as a security actor', Journal of Common Market Studies 40, 2002, pp. 11-28; D. Dubios, 'The attacks of 11 September: EU-US cooperation against terrorism in the field of justice and home affairs', European Foreign Affairs Review 7: 3, 2002, pp. 317-35.
41. On these measures see M. Den Boer and J. Monar, '11 Sept. and the challenge of global terrorism to the EU as a security actor', Journal of Common Market Studies 40, 2002, pp. 11-28; D. Dubios, 'The attacks of 11 September: EU-US cooperation against terrorism in the field of justice and home affairs', European Foreign Affairs Review 7: 3, 2002, pp. 317-35.
42. Europol's mandate was expanded in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001: see J. D. Ochipinti, The politics of EU police cooperation (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2003).
43. On Europol and the US see esp. Rees, 'Justice and internal security', pp. 47-58; Segell, 'Intelligence agency relations', pp. 82-3.
44. On Europol and the US see esp. Rees, 'Justice and internal security', pp. 47-58; Segell, 'Intelligence agency relations', pp. 82-3.
45. Europol has developed machine translation for drugs intelligence in cooperation with various European software firms and with assistance from the German BND: EU-Projekt Aventinus, http://svenska.gu.se/aventinus/.
46. In 1999 a Belgian official involved in the SIRENE network (an adjunct to the Schengen Information System) sold data to criminals: House of Lords, European Communities Committee, minutes of evidence, 13 Jan. 1999, p. 156, http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld199899/ldselect/ldeucom/ 37/9011302.htm.
47. In 2001 a similar problem had hampered exchanges between the German authorities and the FBI over the case of the alleged '20th hijacker' and French citizen, Zacarias Moussaoui.
48. For a cogent review of these issues see V. Mitsilegas, 'The new EU-USA cooperation on extradition, mutual legal assistance and the exchange of police data', European Foreign Affairs Review 8: 4, Winter 2003, pp. 515-36.
49. EU-Russia joint statement on the fight against terrorism, 11 Nov. 2002, http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/russia/summit_II_02/js_terr.htm.
50. The important subject of data-mining, especially using commercial databases, has largely been overlooked, but see M. de Rosa, 'Privacy in the age of terror', Washington Quarterly 26: 3, Summer 2003, pp. 27-41.
51. S. K. Goo, 'EU agrees to share airline passenger data', Washington Post, 17 Dec. 2003.
52. J. L. Hirsch, The UN and international terrorism, International Peace Academy Report, 2004; C. de Jonge Oudrat, 'Combatting terrorism', Washington Quarterly 26: 4, Fall 2003, pp. 163-76.
53. J. L. Hirsch, The UN and international terrorism, International Peace Academy Report, 2004; C. de Jonge Oudrat, 'Combatting terrorism', Washington Quarterly 26: 4, Fall 2003, pp. 163-76.
54. Magnus Ranstorp with Jeffrey Cozzens, 'The European terror challenge', 25 March 2004, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3563713.stm.
55. 'New counterterrorist measures for Europe', The Times, 25 March 2004; memo/04/66, 'European Commission action paper in response to the terrorist attacks on Madrid', Brussels, 18 March 2004, http://europe.eu.int/rapid.start. cgi.guesten.ksh?p_actiongettxt=gt&doc=M.
56. 'New counterterrorist measures for Europe', The Times, 25 March 2004; memo/04/66, 'European Commission action paper in response to the terrorist attacks on Madrid', Brussels, 18 March 2004, http://europe.eu.int/rapid.start. cgi.guesten.ksh?p_actiongettxt=gt&doc=M.
57. David Blunkett, minutes of evidence given before the House of Commons Defence and Home Affairs Committees, 2 March 2004, Q43.
58. The most sophisticated account is offered by B. Berkowitz, The new face of war: how war will be fought in the 21st century (New York: Free Press, 2003).
59. Paul Kennedy, 'The eagle has landed: the new US military position', Financial Times Weekend, 1 Feb. 2002; T. Gury and R. Callum, 'The transformation and future prospects of Europe's defence industry', International Affairs 78: 4, 2002, p. 765.
60. Paul Kennedy, 'The eagle has landed: the new US military position', Financial Times Weekend, 1 Feb. 2002; T. Gury and R. Callum, 'The transformation and future prospects of Europe's defence industry', International Affairs 78: 4, 2002, p. 765.
61. David S. Yost, 'The NATO capabilities gap and the European Union', Survival 42: 4, Winter 2000-2001, pp. 97-128.
62. The US has six Commando Solo aircraft flown by the 193rd Special Operations Wing which are generally tasked by the State Department.
63. Jim Rutenberg, 'Coming soon to Arab TVs: US', New York Times, 17 Dec. 2003.
64. B. de Jong, Wies Platje and R. Steele, Peacekeeping intelligence: emerging concepts for the future (Oakton: OSS International Press, 2003).
65. NATO press release (2002) 127, 'Prague summit declaration', 21 Nov. 2002. Currently the United States provides most of NATO's intelligence through the Battlefield Intelligence Collection and Exploitation System (BICES), a near-real-time all-source system that is fed through a gateway located at RAF Molesworth.
66. The Special Committee, one of NATO's oldest institutions, was set up on 3 Dec. 1952 at the suggestion of Denmark: Politiets Efterretningstjeneste (PET) [Danish Security Intelligence Service], Samarbejdspartnere, http://www.pet.dk/ Samarbejdspartnere.aspx.
67. On the wider issues of expansion see T. Edmunds, 'NATO and its new members', Survival 45: 3, Autumn 2003, pp. 107-22.
68. K. Knox, 'Slovakia/Bulgaria: scandals show that building trust between NATO, new members will pose challenges', RFE/RL 1 October 2003, http://www.rferl.org/features/2003/10/01102003153057.asp. Some of the technical collection services of these three countries have close relations with Moscow. See Beata Balogová, 'Dzurinda unforgiving: _imko must leave', Slovak Spectator 9: 36, 22-28 Sept. 2003; Kalin Todorov, 'Spy vs. spy', 168 Tchasa, 3-9 Oct. 2003; Etienne Boisserie, 'Dzurinda en apnée', Regard sur l'est 35, 2004, http://www.regard-est.com/Revue/Numero35/Dzurinda.htm.
69. K. Knox, 'Slovakia/Bulgaria: scandals show that building trust between NATO, new members will pose challenges', RFE/RL 1 October 2003, http://www.rferl.org/features/2003/10/01102003153057.asp. Some of the technical collection services of these three countries have close relations with Moscow. See Beata Balogová, 'Dzurinda unforgiving: _imko must leave', Slovak Spectator 9: 36, 22-28 Sept. 2003; Kalin Todorov, 'Spy vs. spy', 168 Tchasa, 3-9 Oct. 2003; Etienne Boisserie, 'Dzurinda en apnée', Regard sur l'est 35, 2004, http://www.regard-est.com/Revue/Numero35/Dzurinda.htm.
70. K. Knox, 'Slovakia/Bulgaria: scandals show that building trust between NATO, new members will pose challenges', RFE/RL 1 October 2003, http://www.rferl.org/features/2003/10/01102003153057.asp. Some of the technical collection services of these three countries have close relations with Moscow. See Beata Balogová, 'Dzurinda unforgiving: _imko must leave', Slovak Spectator 9: 36, 22-28 Sept. 2003; Kalin Todorov, 'Spy vs. spy', 168 Tchasa, 3-9 Oct. 2003; Etienne Boisserie, 'Dzurinda en apnée', Regard sur l'est 35, 2004, http://www.regard-est.com/Revue/Numero35/Dzurinda.htm.
71. K. Knox, 'Slovakia/Bulgaria: scandals show that building trust between NATO, new members will pose challenges', RFE/RL 1 October 2003, http://www.rferl.org/features/2003/10/01102003153057.asp. Some of the technical collection services of these three countries have close relations with Moscow. See Beata Balogová, 'Dzurinda unforgiving: _imko must leave', Slovak Spectator 9: 36, 22-28 Sept. 2003; Kalin Todorov, 'Spy vs. spy', 168 Tchasa, 3-9 Oct. 2003; Etienne Boisserie, 'Dzurinda en apnée', Regard sur l'est 35, 2004, http://www.regard-est.com/Revue/Numero35/Dzurinda.htm.
72. For a contrary view that suggests that the impact of alliance in the East will be limited to armed forces structures, see Dan Reiter, 'Why NATO enlargement does not spread democracy', International Security 25: 4, Spring 2001, pp. 41-67.
73. The most extensive study of such a transformation is M. Los and A. Cybetowitz, Privatising the police state: the case of Poland (London: Macmillan, 2000).
74. Special forces form an important subset of cooperation that lies beyond the scope of this article. Special forces from nine different NATO countries operated alongside US forces in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom.
75. 'Polish COMINT capabilities boosted', International Defense Review, 1 June 2003.
76. 3A Command and Information Systems, http://www.nc3a.nato.int/organization/cisd.html.
77. NATO, Prague summit texts, 'Partnership Action Plan against Terrorism' updated 22 Jan. 2003, http://www.nato.int/docu/basictxt/b021122e.htm; Annual Report of the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) 2002, pp. 53-4.
78. NATO, Prague summit texts, 'Partnership Action Plan against Terrorism' updated 22 Jan. 2003, http://www.nato.int/docu/basictxt/b021122e.htm; Annual Report of the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) 2002, pp. 53-4.
79. 'Rumsfeld urges NATO intelligence co-ordination, Defense Secretary speaks at Munich security conference Feb. 7', US Department of State press transcript of question-and-answer session, 9 Feb. 2004, http://www.iwar.org.uk/news- archive/2004/02-09-3.htm.
80. I have argued elsewhere that during the first two decades of the Cold War joint UK-US estimates were largely cosmetic and were certainly ignored by policy-makers in Washington: Richard J. Aldrich, 'British intelligence and the Anglo-American "special relationship" during the Cold War', Review of International Studies 24: 1, March 1998, pp. 331-51.
81. The BND apparently even suggested that Iraq might be nuclear-capable by 2004: see D. Mahncke, W. Rees and W. R. Thompson, Redefining transatlantic security relations: the challenge of change (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004), p. 170.
82. P. Taylor, Brits: the war against the IRA (London: Bloomsbury, 2001), pp. 163-79; S. Shpiro, 'The CIA as Middle East peace broker?', Survival 45: 2, 2003, pp. 91-112.
83. P. Taylor, Brits: the war against the IRA (London: Bloomsbury, 2001), pp. 163-79; S. Shpiro, 'The CIA as Middle East peace broker?', Survival 45: 2, 2003, pp. 91-112.
84. B. Hoffman, 'Intelligence and terrorism: emerging threats and new security challenges in the post-Cold War era', Intelligence and National Security n: 2, April 1996, pp. 207-23.
85. David Blunkett, minutes of evidence given before the House of Commons Defence and Home Affairs Committees, 2 March 2004, Q58.
86. B. Berkowitz and A. Goodman, Best truth: intelligence in the information age (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000), pp. 29-40, 166-7.
87. National Security Advisor Dr Condoleezza Rice, opening remarks to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, Hart Senate Office Building, Washington DC, 8 April 2004, http://www.globalsecurity.org/ security/libraiy/congress/9-11_commission/040408-rice.htm.
88. On 7 Nov. 2002 Dr August Hanning, chief of the BND, gave the keynote address at a BND symposium hosted at Pullach entitled 'Globalisierung + Islamismus = Kampf der Kulturen?': see http://www.bundesnachrichtendienst.de/ infos/symposien/sym_2002.htm.
89. This line of argument follows R. Scruton, The West and the rest: globalization and the terrorist threat (London: ISI Books, 2003).
90. 'New allies back US Iraq policy', International Herald Tribune, 6 Feb. 2003.
91. M. Herman, Intelligence services in the information age: theory and practice (London: Frank Cass, 2001), p. 220.
92. The jury is out on the UK system. Although the Joint Intelligence Committee retains some of its time-honoured values, the policy-making machine around it is changing fast, and that presents some new issues. Peter Hennessy has commented on the difficulties that the UK JIC was encountering even before 9/11: 'At the end of 1999 there were signs that Mr Blair was toying with the idea of ending the traditional (and much-prized) distinction between intelligence analysis and policy advice': P. Hennessy, The prime minister: the office and its holders since 1945 (London: Allen Lane, 2000), p. 502.
93. The case for radical change is set out admirably in C. A. Medina, 'The coming revolution in intelligence analysis: what to do when traditional methods fail', Studies in Intelligence 46: 3, Summer 2002, http://www.cia.gov/csi/ studies/vol46n03/article03.html.