More Similar Than Different: Of Checks, Balances, and German and American Government Responses to International Terrorism

Abstract

This paper examines German and American responses to international terrorism from the end of the cold war to today. While terrorism was not a priority for much the 1990s, the 9/11 attacks generated a long list of domestic counterterrorism measures in both countries. In the international realm, the German government ended up participating in many US initiatives designed to hunt down al-Qaeda operatives and prevent them from launching another attack inside the United States. However, German support was often secret and cooperation in the context of the ‘war on terrorism’ was considered controversial at home. When comparing German and US counterterrorism approaches, the paper takes a unique approach by analysing how parliamentary and presidential government structures affected responses in terms of content and scope. The comparative analysis illustrates various similarities between German and US decision-making processes and argues that checks and balances continue to balance executive power gains in both countries.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr Hellmuth is Associate Professor of Politics at the Catholic University of America and serves as the academic director of the politics department’s parliamentary internship programmes in Europe. Professor Hellmuth has briefed members of parliament, law enforcement, and government representatives on counterterrorism, national security, and defence issues. She is a non-resident fellow at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS) and serves as a fellow at the German Institute on Radicalization and De-Radicalization Studies (GIRDS). Her research and teaching covers world politics, particularly the study of transatlantic security, counterterrorism, counter-radicalization, homeland security, European and general comparative politics, and American foreign policy. Professor Hellmuth held previous appointments as Assistant Professor at American University’s School of International Service and as Research Fellow at the National War College, National Defense University.

Notes

1 On this point, see also Dorle Hellmuth, Counterterrorism and the State (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015), p.274.

2 Prominent members of the structural school include Samuel Huntington, The Common Defense: Strategic Programs in National Politics (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961), and Kenneth Waltz, Foreign Policy and Democratic Politics: The American and British Experience (Boston: Little Brown, 1967). See also Stephen Krasner, ‘Are Bureaucracies Important?’, in G. John Ikenberry (ed.), American Foreign Policy: Theoretical Essays (Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1989), pp.419–33; see also Hellmuth, Counterterrorism, pp.1–2.

3 For major contributions, see Graham T. Allison, Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis (New York: Harper Collins, 1971); Morton H. Halperin, Bureaucratic Politics and Foreign Policy (Washington, DC: Brookings, 1974); Amy Zegart, Spying Blind: The CIA, the FBI, and the Origins of 9/11 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007).

4 On this point see also Hellmuth, Counterterrorism, pp.124, 274.

5 The article distinguishes between domestic and international responses as the former involves significant civil liberty considerations and legislative branch involvement, whereas the latter does not.

6 Richard Russell, ‘American Military Retaliation for Terrorism: Judging the Merits of the 1998 Cruise Missile Strikes in Afghanistan and Sudan’, Georgetown Institute for the Study of Diplomacy Case Study 238 (2000), p.7.

7 Stefan Malthaner and Peter Waldmann, ‘Terrorism in Germany: Old and New Problems’, in Marianne van Leeuwen (ed.), Confronting Terrorism: European Experiences, Threat Perceptions and Policies (The Hague: Kluwer Law, 2003), pp.112–13.

8 For more details on US reforms, see also Hellmuth, Counterterrorism, chapter 2.

9 Mike De Bonis, ‘House Passes Bill to Tighten Flow of Syrian Refugees over Obama's Objections’, Washington Post, 19 November 2015.

10 Michael O’Hanlon, ‘Border Protection’, in Michael d’Arcy, Michael O’Hanlon, Peter Orszag, Jeremy Shapiro, and James Steinberg (eds), Protecting the Homeland, 2006/2007 (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2006), pp.96–113.

11 Michael Shear and Adam Liptak, ‘Supreme Court Takes Up Travel Ban Case, and Allows Parts to Go Ahead’, New York Times, 26 June 2017.

12 Stephen Flynn, America the Vulnerable (New York: Harper Collins, 2004), chapter 5.

13 Dorle Hellmuth, ‘Countering Jihadi Radicals and Foreign Fighters in the United States and France: Très Similaire!’, Journal for Deradicalization 4 (Fall 2015), pp.2–21.

14 See also Hellmuth, Counterterrorism, chapter 3.

15 ‘Ausbildung im Terrorcamp wird strafbar’, Zeit Online, 28 May 2009, http://www.zeit.de/online/2009/23/justiz-terror-strafen (accessed 20 June 2017).

16 Jenny Gesley, ‘Germany: New Anti-Terrorism Legislation Entered Into Force’, 10 July 2015, Library of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/law/foreign-news/article/germany-new-anti-terrorism-legislation-entered-into-force/ (accessed 20 June 2017).

17 ‘Anti-Terror-Gesetze erneut verschaerft’, Zeit Online, 1 June 2016, http://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2016-06/terrorismus-bundesregierung-anti-terror-paket (accessed 20 June 2017).

18 Dorle Hellmuth, ‘Countering Islamist Radicalization in Germany’, Combating Terrorism Center Sentinel (at West Point) 6/1 (Jan. 2013), pp.13–16.

19 Hellmuth, Counterterrorism, pp.100, 126.

20 ‘Legislative Background: Recent Action on the USA Patriot Act’, Congressional Digest 84/7 (Sept. 2005), p.201.

21 Sheryl Gay Stolberg, ‘Senators Left Out of Loop Make Their Pique Known’, New York Times, 19 May 2006.

22 Eric Lichtblau and David Johnston, ‘Court to Oversee U.S. Wiretapping in Terror Cases’, New York Times, 18 Jan. 2007.

23 ‘A Better Surveillance Law’, Washington Post, 20 June 2008.

24 Ellen Nakashima, ‘Congressional Action on NSA is a Milestone in the Post-9/11 World’, Washington Post, 2 June 2015.

25 See also Hellmuth, Counterterrorism, p.76.

26 Ibid., p.75.

27 George Archibald, ‘Panel Ties Funding to Ridge Testimony’, Washington Times, 22 March 2002; George Archibald, ‘White House Mollifies House Panel’, Washington Times, 23 March 2002; ‘Stampede on Intelligence’, Washington Post, 2 Sept. 2004.

28 John Lancaster and Jonathan Krim, ‘Ashcroft Presents Anti-Terrorism Plan to Congress’, Washington Post, 20 Sept. 2001; John Lancaster, ‘Senate Passes Expansion of Electronic Surveillance’, Washington Post, 12 Oct. 2001.

29 Greta Wodele and John Stanton, ‘Compromise Clears Way for Intelligence Overhaul Vote’, GovExec.com, 7 Dec. 2004. See also Hellmuth, Counterterrorism, pp.52–53.

30 Hellmuch, Counterterrorism, pp.163–65, 175–76.

31 Bundesministerium des Innern, ‘Informationen zum Terrorismusbekämpfungsergänzungsgesetz’, Pressemitteilung, 11 July 2006.

32 See also Hellmuth, Counterterrorism, pp.71–72, 125–26.

33 Steven Brill, After: How America Confronted the September 12 Era (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002), pp.285–87.

34 Richard Posner, Preventing Surprise Attacks: Intelligence Reform in the Wake of 9/11 (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005), p.56.

35 Robin Toner and Neill A. Lewis, ‘Bill Greatly Expanding Surveillance Power in Terrorism Fight Clears the Senate’, New York Times, 12 Oct. 2001; E.J. Dionne, Jr., ‘Why the Democrats Caved’, Washington Post, 10 Aug. 2007; Alison Mitchell, ‘New Antiterrorism Agency Faces Competing Visions’, New York Times, 14 June 2002.

36 ‘Lawmakers Say Bush, Cheney Need to Lobby’, Washington Post, 22 Nov. 2004.

37 Hellmuth, Counterterrorism, p.125.

38 Stefan Krempl, ‘Der Neue Otto-Katalog ist da’, Telepolis, 1 Nov. 2001.

39 Bundesrat, ‘Beschluss the Bundesrates’, Drucksache 860/08 (Beschluss), 28 Nov. 2008.

40 Klaus Brummer, ‘The Bureaucratic Politics of Security Institution Reform’, German Politics 18/4 (2009), p.515.

41 Hellmuth, Counterterrorism, p.126.

42 ‘Eigensinn der Länder lähmt Terrorbekämpfung’, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 18 March 2004; ‘Innenminister beschließen Islamisten Datei’, Die Welt, 9 July 2004; ‘Zentral gegen den Terror’, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 15 Sept. 2004.

43 ‘Islamisten-Datei und ein zentrales Lage- und Analysezentrum’, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 9 July 2004.

44 Hellmuth, Counterterrorism, p.185.

45 See, for example, Charles Babington, ‘Congress Votes to Renew Patriot Act, with Changes’, Washington Post, 8 March 2006.

46 Shailagh Murray, ‘Obama Joins Fellow Senators in Passing New Wiretapping Measure’, Washington Post, 10 July 2008.

47 Military Order of November 13, 2001, Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism, 66 Fed. Reg. 57,833 (16 Nov. 2001).

48 Authorization for Use of Military Force, PL 107-40, 107th Cong., 1st sess. (18 Sept. 2001).

49 Louis Fisher, ‘NSA Eavesdropping: Unchecked or Limited Presidential Power’, in Ralph Carter (ed.), Contemporary Cases in U.S. Foreign Policy, 4th ed. (Washington, DC: CQ, 2011), pp.229–58.

50 Ibid.; ‘Obama's Speech on Drone Policy’, New York Times, 23 May 2013.

51 Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002, Pub.L. 107–243.

52 Kathleen McInnis, ‘Coalition Contributions to Countering the Islamic State’, Congressional Research Service Report, 24 Aug. 2016.

53 New America Foundation, ‘America's Counterterrorism Wars’, https://www.newamerica.org/in-depth/americas-counterterrorism-wars/ (accessed 20 June 2017).

54 See, for example, German Ministry of Defence, Defence Policy Guidelines, 18 May 2011, p.1.

55 The Federal Government, White Paper 2016, 13 July 2006, p.34.

56 Federal Ministry of Defence, White Paper 2006, 18; 2016 White Paper, p.4.

57 2016 White Paper, p.4.

58 2006 White Paper, pp.9, 55.

59 NATO, ‘ISAF Placemats Archive’, http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/107995.htm (accessed 19 March 2017).

60 NATO, ‘Resolute Support Mission’, http://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/pdf_2017_01/20170126_2017-01-RSM-Placemat-new.pdf (accessed 1 Feb. 2017).

61 ‘German Cabinet Agrees to Send Troops to Train Iraqi Kurds’, DW.com, 17 Dec. 2014, http://www.dw.com/en/german-cabinet-agrees-to-send-troops-to-train-iraqi-kurds/a-18136604 (accessed 19 March 2017).

62 Noah Barkin and Sabine Siebold, ‘Germany to Support Military Campaign against IS after French Appeal’, Reuters, 26 Nov. 2015.

63 Rasul v. Bush, 542 U.S. 466 (2004).

64 Linda Cornett and Mark Gibney, ‘The Rights of Detainees: Determining the Limits of Law’, in Ralph Carter (ed.), Contemporary Cases in U.S. Foreign Policy, 4th ed. (Washington, DC: CQ, 2011), pp.444–69.

65 Julie Tate, ‘The CIA's Use of Harsh Interrogations’, Washington Post, 9 Dec. 2014.

66 Joby Warrick and Dan Eggen, ‘Hill Briefed on Waterboarding in 2002’, Washington Post, 9 Dec. 2007.

67 Rasul v. Bush, 2004.

68 Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, 542 U.S. 507 (2004).

69 Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557 (2006).

70 Boumediene v. Bush, 553 U.S. ___ (2008).

71 Michael John Garcia, ‘Interrogation of Detainees: Requirements of the Detainee Treatment Act’, Congressional Research Service Report, 26 Aug. 2009.

72 Marina Koren, ‘Obama's Last Guantanamo Pitch to Congress’, The Atlantic, 23 Feb. 2016.

73 ‘Ready to Go to the Island’, Spiegel, 24 Nov. 2003.

74 Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, ‘Alleged Secret Detentions and Unlawful Inter-state Transfers involving Council of Europe Member States’, 7 June 2006.

75 Craig Whitlock, ‘Germans Charge 13 CIA Operatives’, Washington Post, 1 Feb. 2007.

76 Craig Whitlock, ‘In Another CIA Abduction, Germany Has an Uneasy Role’, Washington Post, 5 Feb. 2007.

77 Peter Carstens, ‘3 Jahre, 140 Zeugen und 3500 Seiten später’, FAZ.net, 19 June 2009.

78 Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly’, Secret detentions and illegal transfers of detainees involving Council of Europe member states: second report’, Doc. 11302 rev., 11 June 2007.

79 ‘Parliamentary Controller Says Secret Service Is ‘Out of Control’, Deutsche Welle, 18 Dec. 2006. See also Florian Geyer, ‘Fruit of the Poisonous Tree: Member States’ Indirect Use of Extraordinary Rendition and the EU Counter-terrorism Strategy’, Center for European Policy Studies Working Paper 263 (April 2007).

80 Timothy Lee, ‘Here's Everything We Know About PRISM to Date’, Washington Post, 12 June 2013.

81 Ibid.

82 Deutscher Bundestag, ‘1. Untersuchungsausschuss: (“NSA”)’, https://www.bundestag.de/ausschuesse18/ua/1untersuchungsausschuss (accessed 24 June 2017).

83 ‘Waiting for Schindler's list’, Economist, 6 June 2015, p.41.

84 ‘Secret Links between Germany and the NSA’, Spiegel, 22 July 2013.

85 Greg Miller, ‘Backlash in Berlin over NSA Spying Recedes as Threat from Islamic State Rises’, Washington Post, 29 Dec. 2014.

86 Russell Miller, ‘Intelligence Oversight – Made in Germany’, in Zachary Goldman and Samuel Rascoff (eds), Global Intelligence Oversight (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), pp.269–70; Rachel Stern, ‘Fiercely Critical of NSA, Germany now Answering for its Own Spy Practices’, Christian Science Monitor, 22 May 2015.

87 On this point, see also Miller, ‘Intelligence Oversight’, p.258; Jan-Hendrik Dietrich, ‘Of Toothless Windbags, Blind Guardians and Blunt Swords: The Ongoing Controversy about the Reform of Intelligence Oversight in Germany’, Intelligence and National Security 31/3 (2016), pp.397–415.

88 Deutscher Bundestag, ‘Ausschuesse: Parlamentarisches Kontrolgremium’, https://www.bundestag.de/ausschuesse18/gremien18/pkgr/einfuehrung/248044 (accessed 24 June 2017).