In the War on Terror, Information is Power

C. Stewart Verdery Jr.

Security, United States, Europe

The European Union takes a wise step to make air travel safer.

Recent terrorist attacks in Brussels, Paris and San Bernardino have accelerated the need for governments to use all effective tools to deter additional plots. The European Union (EU) has taken a wise step toward keeping nations and citizens—their own and ours—safe and secure by approving the use of aviation Passenger Name Records (PNR) as part of increased information collection and sharing.

The European Parliament’s recent decision to approve the PNR law will allow the collection and sharing of airline passenger information data with the goal of preventing, detecting, investigating and prosecuting terrorist offenses and serious crimes. Specifically, it will require airlines to provide passengers' data—names, passport numbers, flight itineraries, etc.—to national authorities for all flights to and from countries in the EU. This information flow is especially helpful in this region, where international visitors can travel by car or rail to various other member states within Europe once they’ve arrived. But with travel systems becoming more and more integrated, and threat matrices becoming increasingly global, the move’s benefits will extend far beyond the EU.

By collecting, sharing and analyzing PNR information, intelligence agencies will be able to detect patterns of suspicious behavior, prevent threats from entering the EU, and investigate plots once terrorist suspects are identified both before and after incidents much more comprehensively than they’ve been able to in the past. This information-sharing process is an effective investigative tool that enhances the ability of authorities to track the travel patterns and associates of terrorists or criminals once they’ve discovered a potential or actual plot. Identifying and scrutinizing suspects lessens their ability to do harm not just in Europe, but on our side of the pond, as well.

And fortunately, the Europeans have a tested model from which to build their own PNR system: ours.