1.
In intelligence work, there are limits to the amount of information one can share. Confidentiality is essential.
Gijs de Vries
2.
In situations of military conflict, civil strife, lawlessness, bad governance, and human rights violations, terrorists find it easier to hide, train and prepare their attacks.
Gijs de Vries
3.
If you exchange information internationally, you must strengthen data protection. Those are two sides of the same coin.
Gijs de Vries
4.
If you combat an international phenomenon, it is indispensable to share information internationally.
Gijs de Vries
5.
In the fight against terrorism, national agencies keep full control over their police forces, security and intelligence agencies and judicial authorities.
Gijs de Vries
6.
The European Borders Agency in Warsaw has been created to help border forces in Europe cooperate more.
Gijs de Vries
7.
Police forces collect information to be used in a public court to get people convicted. Security services gather information that does not necessarily lead to people being prosecuted and in many cases needs to remain confidential.
Gijs de Vries
8.
Europe has a long and tragic history of mostly domestic terrorism.
Gijs de Vries
9.
Terrorists always have the advantage of surprise.
Gijs de Vries
10.
Ultimately, freedom and democracy are stronger than fear and tyranny.
Gijs de Vries
11.
The central role in the fight against terrorism is with national authorities.
Gijs de Vries
12.
The majority of the world's Muslims do not believe that terrorism is a legitimate strategy or that Islam is incompatible with democracy.
Gijs de Vries
13.
Muslim organisations tend to have a low level of organisation. The communities in Europe are quite diverse.
Gijs de Vries
14.
The key to tackling Islamist fundamentalism and terrorism from the Islamist community is in the hands of moderate Muslims.
Gijs de Vries
15.
We remain vulnerable.There is no such thing as 100 percent security against terrorism.
Gijs de Vries
16.
If information ends up in the wrong hands, the lives of people very often are immediately at risk.
Gijs de Vries
17.
We are familiar with terrorism. But indiscriminate, cross-border, religiously motivated terrorism is new.
Gijs de Vries
18.
The violent radicals do not legitimately represent the overwhelming majority of the world's Muslims.
Gijs de Vries
19.
You can't get closer to the heart of national sovereignty than national security and intelligence services.
Gijs de Vries
20.
I have never come across a technology that doesn't change. This is inevitable. You have to adapt your systems as technology develops.
Gijs de Vries
21.
We still lack a global definition of terrorism.
Gijs de Vries
22.
Terrorists have failed in what is arguably al Qaida's most important objective - to trigger revolutions.
Gijs de Vries
23.
It's important that we work very closely with moderate Muslim forces locally, nationally and internationally.
Gijs de Vries
24.
There are no automatic links between poverty and terrorism. Among millions of poor people in the world, only a few turn to terrorism.
Gijs de Vries
25.
The idea is to have global standards. There is so much travel that if you just had a regional standard, it would probably ultimately have to be changed.
Gijs de Vries