The
European Union is placing IT at the heart of its fight against
terrorism, with plans aimed at broadening the exchange of
information between law enforcement agencies across the
continent.
The plans, due to
be finalised this week, include a database holding details of
terrorist suspects and the creation of a central “clearing house”
allowing law enforcement, judicial authorities and intelligence
services to exchange information.
At a meeting of
the EU Council of Justice and Home Affairs, which was called
following the Madrid terror attacks, ministers said the exchange of
information should be “dramatically improved”.
“A certain culture
of secrecy, understandable only at first sight, has proven
extremely counter-productive,” the EU said. “Comprehensive and
interoperable European information systems should be
developed.”
For example, ministers said, the tracing and checking of dangerous
goods and explosives should be made possible by creating new
databases or upgrading existing databases with new functionalities,
as well as making full use of advanced technologies such as
satellite network Galileo and RFID.
All this action needs to be underpinned by a reprioritisation of
research resources by focusing on security matters, in particular
interoperability, the EU said.
The present amount of £44m devoted to security-related research
is “woefully inadequate”, it admitted.