MR. RUSSERT: Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, believes that there is--if there is another terrorist attack, it will originate there.More on this HERE.
GEN. HAYDEN: We believe so, too. We, we, we can see what's going on. Our--you, you talked before about intelligence and how good or ill we have been in the past. We've gotten much better against al-Qaeda, and, of course, tomorrow we should be better than we are today. So, you know, that's not an absolute scale. We have to keep getting better. But it's very clear to us that al-Qaeda has been able, over the past 18 months or so, to establish a safe haven along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area that they have not enjoyed before, that they are bringing operatives into that region for training, operatives that, a phrase I would use, Tim, wouldn't attract your attention if they were going through the customs line at Dulles with you when you're coming back from overseas.
MR. RUSSERT: Look, look, look Western?
GEN. HAYDEN: Look Western, who, who, who would be able to come into this country with--again, without attracting the kind of attention that others might.
ITEM #2: BBC:
Open skies deal comes into effectITEM #3: INTERNAL SECURITY IN EUROPE IS GETTING WEAKER:
The long-awaited "open skies" agreement between the US and European Union is coming into effect, aiming to open up trans-Atlantic air travel.
The deal ends limits on which airlines can fly between the US and EU, and it is expected to lead to a large rise in the number of carriers on the routes.
However, changes at big airports such as Heathrow will be minimised by the limited availability of take-off slots.
New trans-Atlantic services are likely to use smaller airports instead.
Irish low-cost airline Ryanair has already declared an interest in flying to North America.
Lower prices?
Analysts say the introduction of more competition will bring down prices, but that reductions will be limited unless the current high price of aviation fuel also goes down.
Ryanair jet
A key component of the new aviation agreement between the EU and the US is that any European airline will be able to fly to the US from anywhere in the EU - not just from its home nation.
British Airways and Air France have already announced their intention to launch flights to the US from outside the UK and France respectively.
But European airlines also want access to domestic airline routes in the US, says the BBC's Europe business reporter Duncan Bartlett - flights, say, between New York and Washington.
Europe's Airports Remove Border ChecksITEM #4: THE CHEAPER DOLLARS MEANS EUROPEAN TO USA TRAVEL WILL CONTINUE TO BALLOON...
Passport-free travel in Europe has expanded further as border checks at airports in nine mainly former Communist countries have disappeared. ... Sunday's move allows 400 million people unlimited travel in what is known as the "Schengen zone."
Starting Sunday, citizens of Europe's 24-country "Schengen zone" are no longer required to undergo passport checks at airports in Malta and eight other European Union countries that joined the EU in 2004. Among them are ex-communist Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
The Schengen zone takes its name from a village in Luxembourg where five founder-member governments agreed in 1985 to abolish border controls. It is now comprised of 22 EU member states plus non-EU nations, Iceland and Norway.
Land and maritime border controls had already been abolished among all the EU member countries, allowing Europeans to travel from Norway to Portugal without a single border check.
European Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot suggests the removal of airport controls will revolutionize air travel for some 400 million people.
He says, "The enlargement of the Schengen area to 24 states will mean that passengers within that zone can now freely travel without submitting to any kind of formality."
... Putting strains on our ability to effectively check who is entering.
ITEM #5: THE USA IS AWARE WE NEED BETTER INTEL ON EUROPEANS ENTERING THE USA, BUT THE INTEL WE NEED IS STILL NOT AVAILABLE; (2/11/08):
Bush orders clampdown on flights to USTHE USA HAD BETTER GET A HANDLE ON THIS ASAP.
EU officials furious as Washington says it wants extra data on all air passengers
Bush administration is calling for armed air marshals on transatlantic flights. Photograph: Eric Meola/Getty Images
The US administration is pressing the 27 governments of the European Union to sign up for a range of new security measures for transatlantic travel, including allowing armed guards on all flights from Europe to America by US airlines.
The demand to put armed air marshals on to the flights is part of a travel clampdown by the Bush administration that officials in Brussels described as "blackmail" and "troublesome", and could see west Europeans and Britons required to have US visas if their governments balk at Washington's requirements.
According to a US document being circulated for signature in European capitals, EU states would also need to supply personal data on all air passengers overflying but not landing in the US in order to gain or retain visa-free travel to America, senior EU officials said.
And within months the US department of homeland security is to impose a new permit system for Europeans flying to the US, compelling all travellers to apply online for permission to enter the country before booking or buying a ticket, a procedure that will take several days.
The data from the US's new electronic transport authorisation system is to be combined with extensive personal passenger details already being provided by EU countries to the US for the "profiling" of potential terrorists and assessment of other security risks.
Washington is also asking European airlines to provide personal data on non-travellers - for example family members - who are allowed beyond departure barriers to help elderly, young or ill passengers to board aircraft flying to America, a demand the airlines reject as "absurd".
Seven demands tabled by Washington are contained in a 10-page "memorandum of understanding" (MOU) that the US authorities are negotiating or planning to negotiate with all EU governments, according to ministers and diplomats from EU member states and senior officials in Brussels. The Americans have launched their security drive with some of the 12 mainly east European EU countries whose citizens still need visas to enter the US.
"The Americans are trying to get a beefing up of their visa-waiver programmes. It's all contained in the MOU they want to put to all EU member states," said a diplomat from a west European country. "It's a very delicate problem."
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