Teamwork on terrorism

The Boston Globe - Boston.com - Editorials - News: "THE TERRORIST bombings in London have revealed Europe's stark need to develop better and more cooperative ways of protecting citizens from future attacks. Some measures being taken or proposed are long overdue. Some must be scrutinized to make sure they are truly necessary and will not curtail civil liberties that are the justified pride of Europe's liberal democracies.

The arrest in Egypt of Egyptian national Magdy Nashar, who was sought in the investigation of the London bombings, illustrates the necessity of cooperation not only within Europe but across continents. British investigators found on one bomber's cellphone the phone number of a house in which Nashar had rented an apartment for what he described as ''a friend from London." Large amounts of explosive material were found in that apartment after the bombings.

Since the threat from radical Islamist terror masters is international, the defense mounted against that threat must be, too.

Leads in the British investigation point to Pakistan as well as Egypt, and other countries will likely be asked for assistance. It will be a missed opportunity if cooperation on this one case does not lead to new, permanent arrangements for antiterrorist teamwork.

Egypt has criticized Britain in the past for not extraditing wanted radicals. Some of those fugitives set up in Britain as preachers, indoctrinating and recruiting terrorist foot soldiers. For the future, London and Cairo need to come to an understanding: Egyptian authorities will have to refrain from torturing extradited suspects, and, as Prime Minister Tony Blair has already acknowledged, Britain will have to tighten laws on immigration, asylum, and incitement.

Within Europe, there are many changes that should be made. Wisely, France has already said it will revive border controls. Such controls were abolished in 1995 in the Schengen Agreement among 15 European states. Reviving passport checks within Europe represents a sacrifice not of basic freedom but of convenience. As Britain's Home Secretary Charles Clarke said this week in Brussels, ''It is a fundamental civil liberty of people in Europe to be able to go to work on their transport system in the morning without being blown up."

There also needs to be greatly increased sharing of information among Europe's intelligence and police agencies. Beyond simply sharing information, those agencies ought to be empowered to conduct joint terrorist investigations. And there are specific Europe-wide measures that should be instituted such as a common database for fingerprints and DNA and the use of biometric passports.

Democratic societies can best resist the terrorist siege by better intelligence and police work, not repression."