US, EU Hold Talks After State Dept Warnings

Officials Question Motivations for US Claims

European Union officials today met with US officials over this week’s State Department travel warning cautioning of terror threats across the entire continent of Europe. Though the EU Home Affairs Commissioner said there was “no reason” to question the alert it seems a number of people are doing so.

A number of EU officials complained that the US was not consulting enough with the EU before issuing such warnings, adding that the warning was causing a growing sense of insecurity across the bloc. The warning cited a “non-specific threat” against a non-specific target by a non-specific group of attackers at an unspecified time.

But it wasn’t just about coordination for some officials. A number of European intelligence officials as well as a top Pakistani diplomat to Great Britain said they believed the warning was exaggerated by President Obama for political purposes.

Officials have insisted that the warning is based on a “growing body of information,” but given that officials still haven’t narrowed down the target beyond the continent and still haven’t narrowed down the attackers beyond “Europeans, Africans or Asians” there seems to be very little to be done with the warning except to endlessly speculate.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.