Interior Minister: Hungary, US cooperation in internal security excellent

Washington, DC, October 4 (MTI) – Cooperation in internal security affairs between Hungary and the United States is “excellent”, Sándor Pintér, Hungary’s interior minister, said late on Monday in Washington, DC, after talks with Jeh Johnson, Secretary of Homeland Security.

The two officials signed an agreement on cooperation between the United States and Hungary on combatting terrorism as part of the minister’s two-day visit.

Key areas of cooperation include making it harder for foreign terrorist militants to move around and intensifying terrorism surveillance, Pintér told MTI’s Washington correspondent.

Cooperation will also cover several other major areas of security, including orgnanised crime, the minister said.

Pintér noted that this recent agreement aims to renew similar cooperation between Hungary and the US, and to exploit new channels of communication to allow rapid communication exchanges.

Highlighting the most significant aspect of the agreement, Pintér said the immediate exchange of information would help the authorities detect terrorists and terrorist acts.

Another essential part of the agreement is that the two countries will provide each other with the records that are sent to Interpol and Europol.

Under the agreement, Hungary will also prepare solutions for handling the problem of lost or stolen passports, he said. The US voids lost passports for security reasons, to preclude identity theft, whereas in the European Union a lost passport may be returned to its owner. Asked whether Hungary intended to take up the American practice, Pintér said the two countries would sign an accord on this at a later point. Monday’s agreement, however, creates the basis for cooperation, he added.

Pintér also met Michael Rogers, director of the National Security Agency (NSA), and paid a visit to CBP National Targeting Center for border control anti-terrorism in Virginia.

Source: MTI