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Articles by Kenneth Propp
The Unexpected Emergence of the EU as a U.S. Counterterrorism Partner
[Editor's note: This piece is part of Lawfare's collection "9/11 at 25: The Legal Architecture of the War on Terror, Twenty-Five Years On," examining how 9/11 remains—or doesn't—embedded in current legal and policy frameworks, a quarter century after the attacks. Read the full collection here.] *** Soon after the Sept.
EU Commissioner Michael McGrath on Europe's digital future
On Monday, July 20 at 11:00 a.m. ET, the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center will host a conversation with European Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection Michael McGrath on Europe’s digital future. As the European Union navigates a rapidly evolving global digital landscape while pursuing its own vision of a trusted digital ecosystem, policymakers face difficult questions about innovation, regulation, and consumer protection.
The EU Cloud and AI Development Act
On June 3, the European Commission published its long-gestating European Technological Sovereignty Package, a sprawling and ambitious compendium of measures intended to strengthen Europe’s capacity in semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud services, and open source software.
Roberto Viola on the EU’s tech sovereignty agenda and US-EU cooperation
On Wednesday, June 24 at 5:00 p.m. ET, the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center and Atlantic Council Technology Programs will host a conversation with Roberto Viola, director-general of DG Connect at the European Commission, on the EU’s rapidly evolving approach to tech sovereignty and its implications for transatlantic cooperation.
The Trump Administration Targets Europe’s Content Moderation Laws
Just before Christmas, the Trump administration raised the stakes in its campaign against laws in Europe that require social media platforms to exercise vigilance against illegal content, hate speech, and disinformation. On Dec.
The European Union Changes Course on Digital Legislation
Over the past decade, the European Union has assembled an edifice of legislation on privacy, platform competition, online content, and artificial intelligence (AI), firm in the belief that establishing a comprehensive and stable digital regulatory environment would encourage technology-driven growth and innovation in Europe. Over the past year, however, doubt has emerged in Brussels about the presumed virtuous circle of regulation, growth, and innovation.
Patching the U.K.’s Zero-Day Security Exploit With the U.S.-U.K. CLOUD Act Agreement
Published by The Lawfare Institute in Cooperation With Recent reports about the U.K.’s secret efforts to compel Apple to globally disable security features in support of its surveillance regime have rightly alarmed U.S.policymakers across the political spectrum, including President Trump.
A Belated Farewell to (and a Liber Amicorum Honoring) Former EU Counterterrorism Coordinator Gilles de Kerchove
Published by The Lawfare Institute in Cooperation With We write belatedly to observe the retirement at the end of August of one of Europe’s best-known and longest-serving security officials, Gilles de Kerchove, who was the European Union’s counterterrorism coordinator from 2007 to 2021. He had served previously as director of justice and home affairs for the Secretariat of the European Council from 1995 to 2007.
The U.K.-U.S. Data Access Agreement
After more than two years in operation, the initial results are in: The U.K.-U.S. Data Access Agreement (an “e-evidence agreement” enabled by the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data, or CLOUD, Act) has proved a game-changer. It is quietly serving its purpose, enabling evidence collection, easing conflicts of law over evidence-gathering methods, and offering a promising precedent for other U.S. agreements under negotiation, including with the European Union.
From Budapest to Hanoi: Comparing the COE and UN Cybercrime Conventions
At the end of 2024, the United Nations gave final approval to a hotly contested Convention Against Cybercrime (UN Convention). Later this year, Vietnam will host a signing ceremony in Hanoi. Many countries are expected to sign the convention at that time. The Trump administration has yet to indicate whether the United States will be among them. Without U.S. participation, the UN Convention would be a much less effective instrument.
The Changing Landscape of European Privacy Enforcement
The European Union’s agenda, like the old Soviet Union’s economic planning, operates in five-year increments. During European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s first five-year term from 2019 to 2024, implementing the European Union’s 2018 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was an initial digital policy priority.
Looking ahead to the next chapter of US-EU digital collaboration
Digital Policy Economy & Business European Union Trade United States and Canada Looking ahead to the next chapter of US-EU digital collaboration This essay is part of the report “Transatlantic horizons: A collaborative US-EU policy agenda for 2025 and beyond,” which outlines an agenda for common action for the next US administration and European Commission.
Reenergizing transatlantic trade dynamics over the coming years
Economy & Business European Union Macroeconomics Trade United States and Canada Reenergizing transatlantic trade dynamics over the coming years This essay is part of the report “Transatlantic horizons: A collaborative US-EU policy agenda for 2025 and beyond,” which outlines an agenda for common action for the next US administration and European Commission.
Who’s a national security risk? The changing transatlantic geopolitics of data transfers
Cybersecurity Digital Policy Economy & Business Europe & Eurasia European Union National Security Technology & Innovation United States and Canada Who’s a national security risk? The changing transatlantic geopolitics of data transfers Table of contents Introduction Conclusions The geopolitics of transatlantic data transfers have been unvarying for the past decade.
Transatlantic Digital Trade Protections: From TTIP to ‘Policy Suicide’?
When the United States and the European Union began negotiations a decade ago on an envisaged Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), they projected a chapter specifically addressing digital trade as a major component. By 2016, TTIP negotiations had stalled—including over digital trade—and were abandoned.
An International Path Forward on National Security Access to Personal Data
Editor’s Note: An expanded version of this article, titled “Government Access to Personal Data and Transnational Interoperability: An Accountability Perspective,” is now available in the Oslo Law Journal. For four decades, European courts have elaborated how governments must respect individual rights when their national security agencies obtain personal data for national security purposes. Jurisprudence from the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg developed first and .
Charting the future for transatlantic digital regulatory governance
Please join the Europe Center for a virtual public event addressing transatlantic digital regulatory governance. This event will take place virtually on Monday, January 22 from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. ET. Digital regulation has advanced steadily in the European Union.
Navigating Toward an EU-U.S. Agreement on Electronic Evidence
Solving crime today routinely requires obtaining electronic as well as physical evidence. “E-evidence in any form is relevant in around 85% of total (criminal) investigations,” a European Commission study has found. And in two-thirds of such investigations, the needed e-evidence is held in a different country from where the offense occurred. Most often this evidence resides in the United States.
Revenge, or Reciprocity? The U.S.’s Review of Europe’s SIGINT Safeguards
Ever since Edward Snowden revealed a decade ago that U.S. government signals intelligence was collecting information on Europeans transmitted via U.S. electronic communications providers, transatlantic transfers of data from the continent have been on insecure footing.
The geopolitics of transatlantic policymaking on artificial intelligence
Please join the Europe Center for a virtual public event on the geopolitics of transatlantic policymaking on AI on Tuesday, July 18 at 10:00 a.m. ET / 4:00 p.m. CET. Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies continue to evolve at an increasingly rapid pace, and so too does the global race to regulate the use and development of AI. This effort carries with it immense economic and geopolitical implications with competing powers offering their own visions of this generation-defining technology.
Beyond adequacy: What is the future for international data flows?
Please join the Europe Center for a virtual public event “Beyond adequacy: What is the future for international data flows?” on Friday, July 7, at 11:30 a.m. ET. The United States and European Union (EU) have made progress on securing the sustainability of transatlantic data flows by agreeing on the US-EU Data Privacy Framework (DPF). Pending an adequacy decision from the European Commission, a critical area of the transatlantic economy will achieve a much more secure footing.
Beyond adequacy: What is the future for international data flows?
Please join the Europe Center for a virtual public event “Beyond adequacy: What is the future for international data flows?” on Friday, July 7, at 11:30 a.m. ET. The United States and European Union (EU) have made progress on securing the sustainability of transatlantic data flows by agreeing on the US-EU Data Privacy Framework (DPF). Pending an adequacy decision from the European Commission, a critical area of the transatlantic economy will achieve a much more secure footing.
More than adequate: New directions in international data transfer governance
Digital Policy Economy & Business Europe & Eurasia European Union United States and Canada More than adequate: New directions in international data transfer governance Recent progress between US and European Union (EU) negotiators to secure a more sustainable transatlantic data transfers regime has put a critical area of the transatlantic economy on a more secure footing. Yet the work for digital policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic is far from done.
The US-EU Trade and Technology Council: Assessing the record on data and technology issues
Digital Policy Economy & Business Europe & Eurasia European Union Technology & Innovation United States and Canada The US-EU Trade and Technology Council: Assessing the record on data and technology issues Top lines The TTC has so far achieved tangible results in several areas, developing into a prime forum for US-EU alignment on the impact of digitalization on democracy. Yet, the TTC faces a dilemma.
A conversation with Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager
The Atlantic Council’s Europe Center will host an Atlantic Council Front Page event featuring Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Margrethe Vestager. This conversation will take place in-person and virtually on Friday, March 31 from 8:15 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. ET. Since 2019, the European Commission has prioritized Europe’s green and digital transitions as major priorities, for which Vestager has a leading responsibility among the College of Commissioners.
Digital Policy
New Atlanticist Jan 24, 2023 Biden’s call to modernize US tech policy would pay transatlantic dividends By Kenneth Propp If Congress and the White House can unite to pass regulations on data privacy and tech competition, they would set the stage for deeper EU-US coordination.
Gentlemen’s Rules for Reading Each Other’s Mail: The New OECD Principles on Government Access to Personal Data Held by Private Sector Entities
In 1928, U.S. Secretary of State Henry Stimson famously that deciphered encrypted international cables, indignantly proclaiming that “a gentleman doesn’t read somebody else’s mail.” Nearly a century later, the vast increase in the amount of information held by private companies about individuals (a result of the boom in digital communications) has proved to be an irresistible attraction for national security and law enforcement agencies across the globe.
Gentlemen’s Rules for Reading Each Other’s Mail: The New OECD Principles on Government Access to Personal Data Held by Private Sector Entities
In 1928, U.S. Secretary of State Henry Stimson famously that deciphered encrypted international cables, indignantly proclaiming that “a gentleman doesn’t read somebody else’s mail.” Nearly a century later, the vast increase in the amount of information held by private companies about individuals (a result of the boom in digital communications) has proved to be an irresistible attraction for national security and law enforcement agencies across the globe.
European Union
Issue Brief Oct 18, 2023 Designing a US-EU industrial and trade policy By Erik Brattberg, Frances Burwell, Jörn Fleck, Charles Lichfield, Zach Meyers, James Batchik, and Emma Nix Both sides of the Atlantic are confronting the geopolitical necessity of adapting trade and industrial policies to be fit for purpose in an increasingly competitive world.
Is Europe fit for the digital age? An update on European digital sovereignty
Since coming into office nearly three years ago, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has made “A Europe Fit for the Digital Age” a pillar of the Commission’s work. With promises in policy papers to “secure digital sovereignty” for Europe, “digital sovereignty” has become a guiding principle for the Commission’s regulatory proposals. Three years on, what does “digital sovereignty” mean in practice?
Digital sovereignty in practice: The EU’s push to shape the new global economy
Digital Policy Economy & Business Europe & Eurasia European Union Eurozone International Markets Internet Politics & Diplomacy Technology & Innovation United States and Canada Digital sovereignty in practice: The EU’s push to shape the new global economy As the digital landscape grows, the European Union (EU) is advancing its efforts to expand its indigenous technological capacities and establish global governance norms.
Why sharing passenger data doesn’t fly for the EU’s top court
Soon after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the US government pioneered the use of airline passenger name records (PNR) as a tool to secure international air travel. Today, airlines flying to and from the United States must share with the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) passengers’ names and telephone and credit-card numbers, among other information, shortly after their booking. Then DHS screens them for terrorist or criminal threats before flights depart.
Has the Time for an EU-U.S. Agreement on E-Evidence Come and Gone?
In 2018, the United States and the European Union each set out to reinvent the creaky international system for making electronic evidence stored in one jurisdiction available to law enforcement in another. Law enforcement agencies on both sides of the Atlantic cheered. Four years later, progress toward this goal has been incremental at best.
Has the Time for an EU-U.S. Agreement on E-Evidence Come and Gone?
Published by The Lawfare Institute in Cooperation With In 2018, the United States and the European Union each set out to reinvent the creaky international system for making electronic evidence stored in one jurisdiction available to law enforcement in another. Law enforcement agencies on both sides of the Atlantic cheered. Four years later, progress toward this goal has been incremental at best.
Cultivating Europe’s Data Garden
On February 23, the European Commission proposed the Data Act, the latest in an ambitious set of legislative proposals governing access to and use of data. It follows earlier initiatives—the Digital Markets Act (DMA), Digital Services Act (DSA), Artificial Intelligence Act, and Data Governance Act (DGA)—now making their way through the EU’s elaborate legislative process.
Cultivating Europe’s Data Garden
Published by The Lawfare Institute in Cooperation With On February 23, the European Commission proposed the Data Act, the latest in an ambitious set of legislative proposals governing access to and use of data. It follows earlier initiatives—the Digital Markets Act (DMA), Digital Services Act (DSA), Artificial Intelligence Act, and Data Governance Act (DGA)—now making their way through the EU’s elaborate legislative process.
EU/US Adequacy Negotiations and the Redress Challenge: How to Create an Independent Authority with Effective Remedy Powers
EU/US Adequacy Negotiations and the Redress Challenge: How to Create an Independent Authority with Effective Remedy Powers 16 February 2022/ By Theodore Christakis, Kenneth Propp and Peter Swire / Can the U.S. Government create, by non-statutory means, an independent redress authority capable of providing an effective remedy for a European person who believes that her or his rights have been infringed by an intelligence service?
EU/US Adequacy Negotiations and the Redress Challenge: Whether a New U.S. Statute is Necessary to Produce an “Essentially Equivalent” Solution
EU/US Adequacy Negotiations and the Redress Challenge: Whether a New U.S. Statute is Necessary to Produce an “Essentially Equivalent” Solution 31 January 2022/ By Theodore Christakis, Kenneth Propp and Peter Swire Must the U.S. Congress change statutory law to solve the major issue of “redress” in the EU-US adequacy negotiations?
Will Europe Become a True Digital Power?
“Our common ambition is to make Europe a true digital power in the world,” declared European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, marking the beginning of France’s European Union (EU) presidency. Europe, French president Emmanuel Macron announced, should not be “rule-takers, dependent on others,” but “should define our own rules for the digital world.” Europe is having its moment in the digital sun.
Towards OECD Principles for Government Access to Data
In December 2020, governments belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) quietly embarked on an unprecedented exercise to formulate common principles governing their access, for national security and law enforcement purposes, to personal data held by the private sector.
Towards OECD Principles for Government Access to Data: Can Democracies Show the Way?
In December 2020, governments belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) quietly embarked on an unprecedented exercise to formulate common principles governing their access, for national security and law enforcement purposes, to personal data held by the private sector.
Towards OECD Principles for Government Access to Data
Published by The Lawfare Institute in Cooperation With In December 2020, governments belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) quietly embarked on an unprecedented exercise to formulate common principles governing their access, for national security and law enforcement purposes, to personal data held by the private sector.
A Belated Farewell to (and a Liber Amicorum Honoring) Former EU Counterterrorism Coordinator Gilles de Kerchove
We write belatedly to observe the retirement at the end of August of one of Europe’s best-known and longest-serving security officials, Gilles de Kerchove, who was the European Union’s counterterrorism coordinator from 2007 to 2021. He had served previously as director of justice and home affairs for the Secretariat of the European Council from 1995 to 2007.
Progress on Transatlantic Data Transfers? The Picture After the US-EU Summit
President Biden’s June 15 summit meeting in Brussels with EU leadership put cooperation on technology and trade at the forefront of the transatlantic relationship, but it did not yield a breakthrough in the ongoing negotiations to restore data transfers from Europe to the United States to a stable and durable footing.
Progress on Transatlantic Data Transfers? The Picture After the US-EU Summit
President Biden’s June 15 summit meeting in Brussels with EU leadership put cooperation on technology and trade at the forefront of the transatlantic relationship, but it did not yield a breakthrough in the ongoing negotiations to restore data transfers from Europe to the United States to a stable and durable footing.
The U.S. and EU Need to Get Serious About Transatlantic Tech
Wheels are up on President Joe Biden’s first international trip. As Biden jets back from his flurry of Summits with the G7 Summit, NATO, the European Union (EU), and finally with Russian president Vladimir Putin, his message was clear: America is back and intent on rebuilding its alliances. The successful summit tour was a welcome signal in transatlantic affairs, especially for the European Union, whose relationship with the United States suffered under the Trump administration.
Machines learn that Brussels writes the rules: The EU’s new AI regulation
The European Union’s proposed artificial intelligence (AI) regulation, released on April 21, is a direct challenge to Silicon Valley’s common view that law should leave emerging technology alone. The proposal sets out a nuanced regulatory structure that bans some uses of AI, heavily regulates high-risk uses and lightly regulates less risky AI systems.
Machines Learn That Brussels Writes the Rules: The EU’s New AI Regulation
The European Union’s proposed artificial intelligence (AI) regulation, released on April 21, is a direct challenge to Silicon Valley’s common view that law should leave emerging technology alone. The proposal sets out a nuanced regulatory structure that bans some uses of AI, heavily regulates high-risk uses and lightly regulates less risky AI systems.
Machines Learn That Brussels Writes the Rules: The EU’s New AI Regulation
Published by The Lawfare Institute in Cooperation With The European Union’s proposed artificial intelligence (AI) regulation, released on April 21, is a direct challenge to Silicon Valley’s common view that law should leave emerging technology alone. The proposal sets out a nuanced regulatory structure that bans some uses of AI, heavily regulates high-risk uses and lightly regulates less risky AI systems.
What exactly is ‘responsible AI’ in principle and in practice?
Twitter Join the conversation on Twitter using #AIBias The notions of ethical and accountable artificial intelligence (AI)—also referred to as “responsible AI”—have been adopted by many stakeholders from government, industry, civil society, and academic institutions. Making AI systems transparent, fair, secure, and inclusive are core elements of widely asserted responsible AI frameworks, but how they are interpreted and operationalized by each group can vary.
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