Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff today became the first US cabinet member to appear before the European Parliament, calling for cooperation over data-sharing in the fight against terrorism.
Chertoff told EU parliamentarians that access to information on transatlantic air passengers was crucial to help prevent terrorist attacks. He also told journalists Washington needed to keep the data for longer than agreed up to now.
The present agreement, which provides for data to be stored for between 3-1/2 and eight years, expires at the end of July and the two sides are trying to negotiate a new arrangement.
Under the deal reached in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on the United States, European airlines must pass on up to 34 items of data on passengers, including addresses and credit card details, to be allowed to land at US airports.
"We are collecting this because time and again it has been proven to us that it will enable us to keep dangerous people outside the United States," Chertoff told the parliament's civil rights committee.
EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini and German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble appeared on the same panel to try to political support for the deal in a body that sees itself as the guardian of civil liberties.
"None of us wants to forsake our civil liberties in the name of security, on the contrary," Chertoff said.