本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Germany Struggles to Balance Terror Defense With Individual Rights
Parties forming a new government debate stricter immigration checks, tougher laws and citizen surveillance
William Wilkes
Nov. 4, 2017 7:00 a.m. ET
BERLIN–Germany’s antiterror posture is facing a shake-up as parties locked in talks about forming the country’s next government wrangle over how to balance a strong state and individual liberties.
The arrest this week of a 19-year-old Syrian man suspected of building a remote-controlled bomb in northern Germany was a stark reminder of how acute a threat Germany still faces even though it hasn’t had a large-scale attack for almost a year.
And this week’s atrocity in Manhattan, in which a suspected Islamist radical mowed down cyclists and pedestrians with a rented truck, underscored the near-impossible task authorities face in preventing crude yet devastating plots.
Security experts see Germany as particularly exposed because of the outgoing government’s decision to open the country’s doors to nearly two million asylum seekers—most of them undocumented—since 2015. Since then, security officials have attributed most terrorist attacks perpetrated in the country to recently arrived migrants.
But how much Berlin can harden its security stance in response to the mounting challenges is in the balance as the three parties that have pledged to try to form a coalition government under Chancellor Angela Merkel seek to reconcile their views. The talks began late last month and are expected to stretch for weeks.
After taking a liberal stance on immigration for years, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives now want stricter checks on immigration as well as tougher terror laws and more resources for police and justice. The party called during the campaign for another 15,000 police officers to be hired.
It also wants to centralize the work of the domestic intelligence agency, which is now largely under the authority of the federal states, to permit better coordination across government.
Germany’s security and intelligence agencies already face some of the most severe constraints on their prerogatives among Western democracies, a legacy of the country’s Communist and Nazi dictatorships. Germany’s 16 states have their own surveillance laws, making it difficult for security services to investigate terrorist cells operating across state borders.
Raphael Bossong, security expert at the German Institute for International and Security in Berlin said Germany needs to harmonize its security laws to allow for tighter surveillance, adding it is “only halfway along the road” to a unified approach to counterterrorism despite the acute threat.
The pro-business Free Democratic Party, once highly suspicious of state surveillance of citizens, has moderated its stance somewhat after recent terrorist attacks, calling for greater powers for federal security agencies and more police. But the party could still oppose Conservative push for more broad-based surveillance techniques. The FDP would also like to make it easier for federal agencies to share information on suspects.
“As liberals we defend the freedom of the citizen,” Frank Elbe, FDP member and former German ambassador to Japan, Poland, India and Switzerland said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in September. But, he added, “an individual can only enjoy his freedom if he lives in security.”
While the FDP and the conservatives see eye-to-eye on many security issues, the left-leaning Greens, the third party at the table, are pushing back. Their negotiators want greater scrutiny by parliament of intelligence agencies and fiercely oppose systematic gathering of data on German citizens.
The Greens also want any additional spending focused on police head counts and cyberdefense. And they staunchly oppose any increase in federal intelligence agency powers.
“We’re a long way from finding agreement,” Konstantin von Notz, a lawmaker for the Greens, said this past week.
Security officials say this week’s arrest should concentrate minds. The BfV domestic intelligence agency said last month that the number of potential Islamist terrorists in the country had risen to 1,870 from 1,600 since January. Federal prosecutors estimate their case load on Islamist terrorism will hit 1,000 this year, up from 250 last year and swelled by the return of German citizens from Iraq and Syria as Islamic State’s empire crumbles.
The BKA, Germany’s version of the FBI, says it is running almost 1,000 antiterror investigations, up from 750 in 2016.
Keeping checks on radicals who cannot be arrested until they commit a crime is particularly resource-intensive. One Bremen-based extremist requires 40 police to monitor him around the clock, according to German security officials. Doing the same for all 1,870 potential terrorists on authorities’ radar would require 74,000 officers, around a third of Germany’s total police force.
Radicalized Islamists can wait for months before carrying out attacks, soaking up police and intelligence agents for long periods, says Raffaello Pantucci, a counterterrorism expert at Britain’s Royal United Services Institute.
German courts are also overwhelmed with complex cases against suspected terrorist and recruiters, creating another bottleneck for investigators who need warrants for surveillance operations. And many prisons are operating at or near capacity, allowing radicalized inmates to proselytize unchecked.
“Preventing terrorism is laborious and resource-intensive.” Mr. Pantucci said.“Germany needs to adapt to the changing threat picture.”更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
Parties forming a new government debate stricter immigration checks, tougher laws and citizen surveillance
William Wilkes
Nov. 4, 2017 7:00 a.m. ET
BERLIN–Germany’s antiterror posture is facing a shake-up as parties locked in talks about forming the country’s next government wrangle over how to balance a strong state and individual liberties.
The arrest this week of a 19-year-old Syrian man suspected of building a remote-controlled bomb in northern Germany was a stark reminder of how acute a threat Germany still faces even though it hasn’t had a large-scale attack for almost a year.
And this week’s atrocity in Manhattan, in which a suspected Islamist radical mowed down cyclists and pedestrians with a rented truck, underscored the near-impossible task authorities face in preventing crude yet devastating plots.
Security experts see Germany as particularly exposed because of the outgoing government’s decision to open the country’s doors to nearly two million asylum seekers—most of them undocumented—since 2015. Since then, security officials have attributed most terrorist attacks perpetrated in the country to recently arrived migrants.
But how much Berlin can harden its security stance in response to the mounting challenges is in the balance as the three parties that have pledged to try to form a coalition government under Chancellor Angela Merkel seek to reconcile their views. The talks began late last month and are expected to stretch for weeks.
After taking a liberal stance on immigration for years, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives now want stricter checks on immigration as well as tougher terror laws and more resources for police and justice. The party called during the campaign for another 15,000 police officers to be hired.
It also wants to centralize the work of the domestic intelligence agency, which is now largely under the authority of the federal states, to permit better coordination across government.
Germany’s security and intelligence agencies already face some of the most severe constraints on their prerogatives among Western democracies, a legacy of the country’s Communist and Nazi dictatorships. Germany’s 16 states have their own surveillance laws, making it difficult for security services to investigate terrorist cells operating across state borders.
Raphael Bossong, security expert at the German Institute for International and Security in Berlin said Germany needs to harmonize its security laws to allow for tighter surveillance, adding it is “only halfway along the road” to a unified approach to counterterrorism despite the acute threat.
The pro-business Free Democratic Party, once highly suspicious of state surveillance of citizens, has moderated its stance somewhat after recent terrorist attacks, calling for greater powers for federal security agencies and more police. But the party could still oppose Conservative push for more broad-based surveillance techniques. The FDP would also like to make it easier for federal agencies to share information on suspects.
“As liberals we defend the freedom of the citizen,” Frank Elbe, FDP member and former German ambassador to Japan, Poland, India and Switzerland said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in September. But, he added, “an individual can only enjoy his freedom if he lives in security.”
While the FDP and the conservatives see eye-to-eye on many security issues, the left-leaning Greens, the third party at the table, are pushing back. Their negotiators want greater scrutiny by parliament of intelligence agencies and fiercely oppose systematic gathering of data on German citizens.
The Greens also want any additional spending focused on police head counts and cyberdefense. And they staunchly oppose any increase in federal intelligence agency powers.
“We’re a long way from finding agreement,” Konstantin von Notz, a lawmaker for the Greens, said this past week.
Security officials say this week’s arrest should concentrate minds. The BfV domestic intelligence agency said last month that the number of potential Islamist terrorists in the country had risen to 1,870 from 1,600 since January. Federal prosecutors estimate their case load on Islamist terrorism will hit 1,000 this year, up from 250 last year and swelled by the return of German citizens from Iraq and Syria as Islamic State’s empire crumbles.
The BKA, Germany’s version of the FBI, says it is running almost 1,000 antiterror investigations, up from 750 in 2016.
Keeping checks on radicals who cannot be arrested until they commit a crime is particularly resource-intensive. One Bremen-based extremist requires 40 police to monitor him around the clock, according to German security officials. Doing the same for all 1,870 potential terrorists on authorities’ radar would require 74,000 officers, around a third of Germany’s total police force.
Radicalized Islamists can wait for months before carrying out attacks, soaking up police and intelligence agents for long periods, says Raffaello Pantucci, a counterterrorism expert at Britain’s Royal United Services Institute.
German courts are also overwhelmed with complex cases against suspected terrorist and recruiters, creating another bottleneck for investigators who need warrants for surveillance operations. And many prisons are operating at or near capacity, allowing radicalized inmates to proselytize unchecked.
“Preventing terrorism is laborious and resource-intensive.” Mr. Pantucci said.“Germany needs to adapt to the changing threat picture.”更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net