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TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4646
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INFO RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

S E C R E T BERLIN 002303 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FBI FOR THE DIRECTOR 
DOJ FOR INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS UNIT CHIEF STUART WIRTZ 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/10/2016 
TAGS: PTER KJUS ASEC PGOV ETTC CVIS PREL KHLS GM
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER: FBI DIRECTOR MUELLER'S BERLIN VISIT 
 
REF: BERLIN 1995 
 
Classified By: Acting Deputy Chief of Mission John K. Bauman 
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary.  German officials welcome your visit to 
Berlin to show the strength of U.S.-German law enforcement 
and counterterrorism cooperation; we want you to use the 
visit to strengthen it further.  You can underscore to nearly 
all key law enforcement decision-makers the need for 
uncomplicated data exchange to fight common threats.  While 
Germany is enhancing data exchange with its EU partners, the 
Germans have been reluctant to consider ways to enhance 
similar data-sharing with the U.S.  The new German 
government, with Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble in the 
lead, is further improving its counterterrorism laws and so 
Schaeuble who travels to Washington a week after your visit, 
may be particularly receptive to your message.  End Summary. 
 
Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (C) Your meeting with Minister Schaeuble sets the stage 
for his visit to Washington one week later.  In DC, Schaeuble 
will meet Vice President Cheney, Attorney General Gonzales, 
Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff, and Congressional 
leaders.  Schaeuble, one of the icons of the German Christian 
Democratic Party (CDU), succeeded Helmut Kohl as CDU 
chairman, and was considered a shoe-in also to succeed Kohl 
as Chancellor, when a campaign finance scandal hurt them both 
and led to Social Democrat Gerhard Schroeder's September 1998 
election victory.  Schaeuble is confined to a wheelchair due 
to an assassination attempt in October 1990, nine days after 
reunification, by a mentally unstable person.  Schaeuble, 
also Interior Minister at that time, worked closely with U.S. 
officials as one of the architects of German reunification. 
Schaeuble is a staunch transatlanticist and is considered the 
CDU's foremost strategic thinker.  His areas of expertise 
include foreign and security policy, and he had actually been 
named as "shadow" foreign and defense minister during the 
2005 election campaign that resulted in the CDU returning to 
power as senior partner in the current Grand Coalition. 
 
¶3. (C) Schaeuble is outspoken in the coalition government 
with the Social Democrats in urging more aggressive German 
counterterrorism actions.  His stances sometimes attract 
criticism even from fellow ministers (e.g., Justice Minister 
Zypries), but he persists and often prevails; below in para 
eight is a list of legal reforms his Ministry is pursuing, 
sometimes by pushing the Justice Ministry as far as it will 
go.  Schaeuble defends interrogations to prevent terrorism -- 
Zypries does not.  On the other hand, like Chancellor Merkel, 
Schaeuble speaks out against Guantanamo. 
 
¶4. (C) Given Schaeuble's counterterrorism and trans-Atlantic 
convictions, he may be willing and able to break logjams and 
find new ways to work more closely with the U.S.  He has 
instructed his staff, for example, to find a way to 
bilaterally share airline Passenger Name Records (PNR) data 
with the U.S., in case the EU is unable to re-establish a 
legal basis for PNR data sharing before the September 30 EU 
court-imposed deadline.  The German data privacy commissioner 
opposes the move and claims it cannot be done legally, but 
Schaeuble told his ministry to find a legal way to do it. 
 
Counterterrorism Landscape 
-------------------------- 
 
¶5. (S) The July 6 arrest of Redouane El Habhab and the July 
31 discovery of unexploded suitcase bombs in German trains 
has kept the issue of terrorist threats prominently featured 
in German newspapers.  German counterterrorism experts, 
including the leadership figures you will meet, are conscious 
of the risks Germany faces.  Polls tend to reveal, however, 
that the German public is not as concerned about terrorism as 
are citizens of EU neighbors such as the UK or the 
Netherlands.  Bilateral counterterrorism cooperation is very 
strong, although there are limits and obstacles. 
 
¶6. (S) Press allegations and exaggerations (e.g., renditions, 
secret detention centers, German assistance to the U.S. 
 
SIPDIS 
during the Iraq war) have negatively affected informal 
information sharing.  A Bundestag Investigation Committee is 
researching these issues; German officials tell us they 
sometimes spend half their day reviewing old files for 
relevant information to provide to the Committee.  The 
creation of the committee has also cast a shadow over some 
informal information sharing, which officials now fear the 
press or the Bundestag may later reveal, rendering German 
officials personally liable.  Some German law enforcement 
offices that used to provide information quickly and 
informally now require U.S. Letters Rogatory. 
 
¶7. (C) Another concern is EU Data Privacy policy.  Proposed 
EU regulations might be used to require data privacy officer 
case-by-case approval of law enforcement data sharing.  This 
possibility could significantly disrupt information sharing. 
At the same time, a German initiative -- the so-called Pruem 
agreements -- tightens law enforcement cooperation with 
select EU partners, enabling, for example, nearly instant 
sharing of fingerprints and other key data.  German leaders 
need to understand how illogical and unwise it is for Germany 
to take these steps with its EU partners, while degrading 
cooperation with the U.S. 
 
Counterterrorism: Legal Landscape 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (C) The Christian Democrat - Social Democrat German 
coalition government took office November 2005 with a pledge 
to strengthen Germany's counterterrorism laws.  The first 
results are in and there is more to come. 
 
-- A draft law broadens and simplifies the three German 
security agencies' access to airline, European travel, 
vehicle, bank, delivery and telecom data, and renews sunset 
provisions from post-9/11 laws set to expire January 2007. 
The government plans to present the draft bill to the 
Bundestag this fall and see it enacted by the end of the year. 
 
-- A Constitutional Reform package grants the Federal Office 
of Criminal Investigation (BKA) expanded preventative powers 
in terrorism investigations.  The reform still requires 
implementing legislation, however. 
 
-- A new law implementing the EU Arrest Warrant took effect 
August 2.  The Constitutional Court voided the previous law 
July 2005 and called for better extradition protections for 
German nationals, which the new law includes.  German 
officials tell us they will now act on the Spanish 
extradition request of Mamoun Darkazanli, a Hamburg based 
German-Syrian national and suspected al-Qaida financier. 
 
-- The Interior Ministry is drafting a bill to broaden the 
Ministry's ability to ban organizations.  In 2005, a court 
overturned the ban of a PKK-linked publication.  The Ministry 
is rewriting the law to reimpose the ban. 
 
-- The Interior Ministry is drafting a bill to create a 
combined terrorist database for the German interagency Joint 
Counterterrorism Center (GTAZ) to simplify information 
sharing (police/security service and federal/state). 
 
-- The Justice Ministry drafted a bill broadening the ability 
to turn state's evidence and another bill to regularize plea 
bargaining.  The Ministry states both bills aim to give 
prosecutors additional tools to obtain convictions. 
 
-- The government also plans to draft a new Aviation and 
Maritime Security bill to address terrorist threats from the 
sky and from the seas. 
 
¶9. (C) Some of the changes above address U.S. priorities. 
Other changes we seek are in our suggested points for you 
(below).  Others include longer prison sentences, lower 
burdens of proof for asset freezes and convictions, tighter 
laws against leaking classified information, and less onerous 
data privacy rules.  In addition, a DoJ priority is the 
creation of a way for classified material to be used and 
protected in court. 
 
¶10. (U) The July the U.S. Senate ratified the U.S.-German 
Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty.  The Bundestag is to ratify 
it in October.  This agreement -- and the US-EU Agreements on 
Mutual Legal Assistance and Extradition -- will improve and 
simplify U.S.-German legal cooperation.  The President is 
expected to send the US-EU agreement to the Senate for 
ratification soon. 
 
Points to Make 
-------------- 
 
¶11. (S) We propose you make the following points in your 
meetings in Germany. 
-- Effective law enforcement cooperation requires the ability 
to informally share information.  We applaud tighter German 
cooperation with its EU partners, which shows German 
commitment to our shared counterterrorism and law enforcement 
objectives.  But for Germany to take these steps while at the 
same time complicating U.S.-German cooperation with data 
privacy and other concerns makes no sense. 
 
-- A valuable 9/11 lesson is the need to share information 
across bureaucratic lines.  The U.S. and Germany have learned 
this lesson because the U.S. has its NCTC, and Germany its 
GTAZ, where data is exchanged like never before.  Similarly, 
we should systematically share information internationally. 
We could thwart terrorist acts in Germany by preventing the 
entry into Germany of those the U.S. believes to be 
terrorists, and vice versa.  We are prepared to be as 
flexible as possible in how we implement such a program. 
 
-- Separately, we have sought exchange of fingerprint data, 
which we know poses a challenge.  Biometrics, however, are 
the future of law enforcement data, and Germany is enabling 
sharing with EU partners.  The vast U.S.-German trade, 
investment, and travel argue for at least as much U.S.-German 
cooperation. 
 
-- The Madrid and London bombings drove home the threat of 
"home-grown" terrorists.  Germany has one of the largest 
Muslim population in Europe -- 3.2 million, 2.4 million of 
whom are Turkish.  Minister Schaeuble are organized Germany's 
first high-level "summit" with German Muslim leaders in late 
September (after your visit) which will include some known to 
have extremist views, such as Milli Gurus.  You should ask 
him about it. 
 
-- In your meeting with the Federal Office for the Protection 
of the Constitution (BfV - domestic security service) you 
should address concerns about the Chinese and Russian 
espionage. 
TIMKEN JR