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Eu doesnt like us sky marshals Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.reuters.com/locales/newsArticle.jsp?type=worldNews&locale=en_IN&storyID=4943318http://www.reuters.com/locales/newsArticle.jsp?type=worldNews&locale=en_IN&storyID=4943318
26 Apr 2004 17:44
U.S. to consider alternatives to sky marshals
By Lisa Jucca
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States is ready to consider measures other than armed sky marshals to ensure security on transatlantic flights because of resistance from some EU countries, a top U.S. official said on Monday.
Britain and Germany responded positively to U.S. demands for armed policemen to be put on flights to and from America judged to be high-risk, but Italy and other EU states said they did not have the resources to train and employ sky marshals.
"We will not make that demand when that is not workable in an EU state," Asa Hutchinson, Under Secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, told reporters.
"There could be alternative security measures to be put in place," said Hutchinson, attending EU-U.S. talks on transport security cooperation, without elaborating.
In December and January, several transatlantic flights were cancelled when the United States said it had received intelligence pointing to possible al Queda plots to target planes.
Although Hutchinson gave no details of any alternative security measures, he said they should allow the grounding of flights to be kept to an absolute minimum.
"Cancelling any flight is a matter of last resort," Hutchinson said.
At the talks, EU and U.S. officials agreed to set up an international database for lost and stolen passports.
The database would combine information in the hands of EU countries and the United States and would be used by Interpol.
"We in the EU have a rather large database. The United States also has a large database. But Interpol, on the other hand, has a rather empty shell," said Jonathan Faull, the European Commission's justice and home affairs director general.
"We and the United States should free up our information for Interpol."
The United States is asking countries to issue passports carrying biometric data, such as fingerprints and digital pictures, to make it more difficult to forge identity papers.
Hutchinson said his department had asked the U.S. Congress to grant a two-year extension to an October 26 deadline to give countries more time to issue standardised biometric passports.
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