CCR sues ‘Guantanamo North’ detention facilities in Aref et al v. Holder

NPR has a story about the “Communications Management Units” in Terre Haute, Ind., and Marion, Ill. The special detention unit in Terre Haute contains 50 cells housing some of the people the U.S. describes as the “country’s biggest security threats”, including John Walker Lindh. The units’ population has included men convicted in well-known post-Sept. 11 [...]

Towards a tiered risk system at airports?

The NY Times reports that the several industry organizations are working on proposals to overhaul security checkpoints to provide more or less scrutiny based on the risk profile of each traveler. While the proposals are in the early stages, they represent a growing consensus around a concept that has the support of John S. Pistole, [...]

Napolitano circumspect on Israeli air tips for U.S.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano played down on Tuesday prospects of adopting Israeli-style aviation security in response to protests at intrusive patdowns and screenings at American airports. Visiting Israel to assess its streamlined and sometimes controversial system, Napolitano defended her administration’s measures as appropriate to the scale and legal requirements of U.S. air travel, [...]

Council of Europe adopts recommendation on the protection of individuals with regard to automatic processing of personal data in the context of profiling

Read it here.

European Commission adopts internal security strategy

The “EU Internal Security Strategy in Action” adopted today comprises 41 actions to be regulated in the coming four years and is imed at implementing the extra powers in the field of home affairs acquired by the EU once the Lisbon Treaty came into force. It also responds to requests from the European Parliament to [...]

Article 29 WP Opinion 7/2010 on European Commission’s Communication on the global approach to transfers of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data to third countries

The European data protection authorities remain very critical about the European Commission’s wish to exchange Passenger Name Record (PNR) data with countries outside the European Union. In its opinion, the Article 29 Working Party questions the necessity of large-scale profiling for law enforcement purposes on the basis of passengers’ data. The European data protection authorities [...]

Washington Post editorial on Europe’s “dangerous refusal to share air-travel data”

The paper used the foiled Yemen cargo bomb plot to say that it is “distressing” to consider the tension between the United States and Europe over aviation security, and especially the sharing of PNR information. European privacy advocates suggest that U.S. authorities can easily misuse such information. In past years, the executive branch of the [...]

No terror arrests from stop and search in 2009 says UK government

The UK Home Office statistics showed that 101,248 people were stopped and searched in England, Wales and Scotland under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act. Of the 506 arrests that resulted, none was terrorism-related. After a ruling of the European Court of Human Rights UK police are not allowed to stop and search people unless [...]

Results of the first EU-wide survey on police stops and minorities and the FRA Guide on preventing discriminatory ethnic profiling

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) has published results from its EU-MIDIS survey, showing that minorities who perceive they are stopped because of their minority background have a lower level of trust in the police. EU-MIDIS Data in Focus 4: Police stops and minorities focuses on the experiences of police stops of the [...]

Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative (NSI)

Thomas O’Reilly, Director, Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative Program Management Office, Department of Justice elaborated his thoughts on the programme here. Law enforcement agencies across the U.S. receive thousands of reports a day on suspicious activity.  But how do these agencies determine what information is related to terrorism, or for that matter, even related to [...]