The US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano joined Attorney General Eric Holder for the biannual USEuropean Union (EU) Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial recently to discuss international collaboration on counterterrorism and homeland security issues with EU Vice President and Commissioner for Justice Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström, Polish Deputy Minister of Justice Igor Dzialuk, Polish Deputy Minister of Interior Piotr Stacha czyk, and Danish Minister of Justice Morten Bødskov.

“The United States is strongly committed to working with our European partners to combat threats to our mutual security and economic stability,” said Secretary Napolitano. “Together, we will continue joint efforts to enhance information sharing, strengthen cybersecurity and ensure the security and resilience of our global supply chain systems against terrorism and transnational crime.”

“The European Union and the United States have been proud to stand and to work together in the face of common threats,” Attorney General Holder said. “We will continue to strengthen our joint efforts to combat transnational organised crime and explore strategies for preventing and disrupting terrorist activity at home as well as abroad. We have also reaffirmed our commitment to increasing information sharing between and among law enforcement officials at every level—all while protecting the privacy of personal information.”

Napolitano underscored the significant progress made in negotiations on the US-EU passenger name record (PNR) agreement—reiterating the important role that information sharing plays in securing travel while protecting the privacy of passengers. Recently, Deputy Secretary Jane Holl Lute initialed an agreement between the United States and the European Union on the transfer and sharing of PNRs.