U.S.-GERMANY JOINT STATEMENT ON CYBER BILATERAL MEETING

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Joint Statement on U.S.-Germany Cyber Bilateral Meeting
Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
June 14, 2013

The text of the following statement was agreed by the Governments of the United States of America and the Federal Republic of Germany on the occasion of the U.S.-Germany Cyber Bilateral Meeting June 10-11, 2013.


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The Governments of the United States and Germany held a Cyber Bilateral Meeting in Washington, DC on June 10-11, 2013.

The U.S.-Germany Cyber Bilateral Meeting reinforced our long-standing alliance by highlighting our pre-existing collaboration on many key cyber issues over the course of the last decade and identifying additional areas for awareness and alignment. The U.S.-Germany Cyber Bilateral Meeting embodied a "whole-of-government" approach, furthering our cooperation on a wide range of cyber issues and our collaborative engagement on both operational and strategic objectives.

Operational objectives include exchanging information on cyber issues of mutual concern and identifying greater cooperation measures on detecting and mitigating cyber incidents, combating cybercrime, developing practical confidence-building measures to reduce risk, and exploring new areas of bilateral cyber defense cooperation.

Strategic objectives include affirming common cyber approaches in Internet governance, Internet freedom, and international security; partnering with the private sector to protect critical infrastructure, including through prospective legislation and other frameworks; and pursuing coordination efforts on cyber capacity-building in third countries. The discussions specifically focused on continued and bolstered support for the multi-stakeholder model for Internet governance, particularly as the preparations for Internet Governance Forum 8 in Bali, Indonesia are underway; expanding the Freedom Online Coalition, particularly as Germany joins the coalition just before the next annual meeting in Tunis this month; and the application of norms and responsible state behavior in cyberspace, particularly next steps in light of successful UN Group of Governmental Experts consensus where key governmental experts affirmed the applicability of international law to state behavior in cyberspace.

Germany noted its concern in connection with the recent disclosures about U.S. Government surveillance programs. The U.S. referenced statements by the U.S. President and the Director of National Intelligence on this issue and emphasized that such programs are designed to protect the United States and other countries from terrorist and other threats, are consistent with U.S. law, and are subject to strict supervision and oversight by all three branches of the U.S. Government. Both sides recognized that this issue will be the subject of further dialogue.

The U.S.-Germany Cyber Bilateral Meeting was hosted by the U.S. Secretary of State’s Coordinator for Cyber Issues, Christopher Painter, and included representatives from the Department of State, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, the Department of Treasury, and the Federal Communications Commission. Mr. Herbert Salber, the Federal Foreign Office’s Commissioner for Security Policy led the German interagency delegation, which included representatives from the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the Federal Office for Information Security, the Federal Ministry of Defense, and the Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology.

Coordinator Painter and Commissioner Salber agreed to hold the Cyber Bilateral Meeting annually with the next to be held in Berlin in mid-2014.

Flooding in Eastern Germany

Flooding in Eastern Germany

SPECIAL U.S. ENVOY TO COMBAT ANTISEMITISM VISITS GERMANY AND POLAND

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Special Envoy to Combat Anti-Semitism Rosenthal Visits Germany and Poland
Media Note Office of the Spokesperson Washington, DC
July 6, 2012
Special Envoy to Combat and Monitor Anti-Semitism Hannah Rosenthal will travel to Germany and Poland July 9-15. In Germany, she will participate in the non-governmental organization Centropa’s Summer Academy in Mannheim and Berlin. Summer Academy is an international traveling workshop for educators from 13 countries, which prepares them to teach and engage students with 20th century Jewish history and the Holocaust.

Special Envoy Rosenthal’s late father, a Holocaust survivor, was a rabbi in Mannheim before the war and will be honored by the City of Mannheim in a special event on July 9. In Berlin, Special Envoy Rosenthal will meet with and engage government officials, religious leaders, interfaith youth, and members of civil society.

In Poland, July 13-15, the Special Envoy will visit the home of her father’s family in Bytom. In Krakow, she will meet with Jewish community leaders, various foundations including a meeting with the representatives of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, as well as the Forum for Dialogue Among Nations. She will learn about the Jewish community in Poland today and civil society engagement on Jewish history and culture.
For more information about Special Envoy Hannah Rosenthal’s work, please visit www.facebook.com/SERosenthal and follow her on Twitter @HannahAtState
For more information about the 2012 Hours Against Hate campaign please visit www.facebook.com/2012hoursagainsthate.