Prefaces and Greetings

Preface

Ministerial Councillor Bernhard Treibenreif, B.A. M.A. ATLAS President Special Unit Task Force Cobra/Directorate for Special Forces (DSE) Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends of European Special Intervention Units,

since September 11, 2001, 20 years passed. On that day, several thousand people in the USA died because of simultaneously committed unimaginable brutal terror attacks. The terrible pictures went around the world.

This event did not leave Europe unscathed either – a few days later, as a first response the Council of European Ministers of the Interior ordered the Belgian EU Council Presidency to increase the cooperation of European counter-terrorism units as quickly as possible.

Shortly after the attack, we – the commanders of all EU counter-terrorism units – met under the Chairman of the Belgian special unit DSU and founded the so-called ATLAS Network. This is the close cooperation network of the meanwhile 38 special police forces of the 27 EU member states, the United Kingdom and the associated countries (Iceland, Norway, Switzerland).

After years during which Belgium held the chairmanship and Austria provided the vice chairman, the ATLAS Presidency was taken by the Netherlands, Germany and in 2017 by Austria.

Since then, a lot has happened:

From its beginning ATLAS has developed constantly – in fact, with full support of all units because every commander knew that this EU-wide cooperation could und will lead at any time to incidents requiring cross-border cooperation. Many examples of cross-border special operations show this to be true. Unfortunately, even Europe was not spared from serious attacks, for example in Madrid in 2003, in London in 2005, in Paris in 2015 – to name just a few.

Three EU Council decisions, achieved under Estonian and Austrian chairmanship, created the legal regulations to anchor the ATLAS Network on a European level and to strengthen the network, in particular with a cooperation to Europol and a fixed annual EU-budget. This in turn enables the ATLAS units to carry out extensive activities, for example workshops, cross-border exercises or joint developments of operational techniques and tactics.

Meanwhile, all over Europe joint training centres for special forces are set up and the standards for equipment and education of all units reached a compatible level.

Still a lot of work needs to be done. But Special Intervention Units und their commanders all have the peculiar intention to pursue reasonable and important aims persistently and to finish projects successfully. Therefore, this common pathway of development will proceed. A fair bit of this common and successful pathway lies behind us – a long way of necessary further developments still lies before us.

Following the guideline of ATLAS, “All together to protect you”, we will still undertake everything in our influence to protect the people in our European states as far as possible.

Wiener Neustadt, May 2021

Greeting

Monique Pariat Director-General of the Directorate-General Migration and Home Affairs of the European Commission Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

for many years, the European Union has been facing a high level of threats from organised crime and terrorist groups. The recent terrorist attacks highlight once more the importance of a rapid law enforcement response by police special intervention forces. We need to join forces across Europe to protect our citizens and cities.

The ATLAS Network of the police Special Intervention Units (SIU) of the EU Member States as well as Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and United Kingdom is a clear demonstration of the added value of EU cooperation in the fight against crime and terrorism. The ATLAS cooperation is a key EU asset when it comes to minimising the damage of and responding to terrorist attacks and acts of serious crime through improved cooperation and enhancing skills of the police special intervention forces. By conducting trainings, seminars, and studies, developing specific materials, exchange of best practices and carrying out joint exercises, it has proven its ability. Upon request, Special Intervention Units can assist in another Member State in man-made crisis situations, presenting a serious direct physical threat to persons, property, infrastructure, or institutions, in particular hostage taking, hijacking and similar events.

The benefit of ATLAS is recognised across Europe, as the network provides a unique EU tool to further improve law enforcement’s response to terrorism and serious crime, regardless of where such acts may take place within Europe. Common platforms for training and tactics, shared equipment, and close cooperation in Member States’ trans-border areas greatly benefits public and individual security.

The European Commission has supported ATLAS for more than ten years, providing funding of up to € 1.5 m annually, as well as administrative and operational support. We strongly support the development of further training centres and the closer cooperation between Europol and ATLAS, and we are convinced that this will increase even further the importance of ATLAS.

We can only encourage you to read this book about this European success story on operational cooperation in the field of internal security.

Yours sincerely,

Monique Pariat Director-General of the Directorate-General Migration and Home Affairs

Greeting

Catherine De Bolle Executive Director of Europol Organised crime and terrorism remain key challenges to the internal security of the European Union. The Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment (SOCTA) 2021 clearly demonstrates that the scale of the organised crime threat is daunting. The use of violence by criminals in the EU has increased in terms of frequency and severity. Terrorism is becoming ever more complex and multiform and continues to be a threat to our citizen’s lives and an attack on our shared European values and fundamental rights.

This requires an effective law enforcement response through enhanced cross-border cooperation mobilising all the instruments at the disposal of EU Member States, including the availability of well-trained and EU-wide interoperable Special Intervention Units (SIU).

ATLAS and Europol share a vision based on mutual trust, common operating procedures, and shared values. This is why in December 2017 the EU Council decided to strengthen the ATLAS Network through a more structured EU support.

In 2018, Europol and the ATLAS Network – the cooperation platform of 38 Special Intervention Units of EU Member States, associated countries (Switzerland, Norway, and Iceland) and the United Kingdom – agreed to strengthen their common efforts in the fight against terrorism and serious and organised crime.

Europol supports the ATLAS Network by providing secure communication platforms and tools, by supporting the financial management of ATLAS and by providing administrative and logistic support through an ATLAS Support Office at Europol. Above all, Europol aims at enhancing operational cooperation with the ATLAS Network and other law enforcement experts and first responders that may potentially be deployed alongside the SIU. The aim is to make maximal use of the expertise, products, and services of Europol. Indeed, SIU may be called to intervene in a variety of situations, not necessarily only linked to terrorism. Joined up efforts between the ATLAS Network and Europol should help improving first response capacity at EU level, for terrorist attacks, rescue of hostages or other crisis situations.

I am very pleased to contribute to this excellent publication, which describes how the women and men from the Special Intervention Units part of the ATLAS Network effectively contribute to the security of our European citizens. Europol remains fully committed to supporting the ATLAS Network as a key instrument to enhance preparedness for the response to terrorist attacks and serious crimes.

Catherine De Bolle Executive Director of Europol

Preface

Christoph Lippay Dear Readers,

for a long time already, violent crime and terrorism don’t stop at national borders. Instead, cross-border criminal and terroristic organisations are an enormous potential of threat. With the ATLAS Network as a union of counter-terrorism and Special Intervention Units, Europe offers an effective and innovative response to this threat. The European counter-terrorism units have moved much closer together since ATLAS was founded in 2001, they exchange continuously, define common standards and train for joint operations. So, the Network fulfils its self-chosen motto “All together to protect you” day by day in many ways. Certainly, it can be spoken of a European success story, which is documented and made visible extensively in this book for the first time.

It is in the nature of counter-terrorism units to act largely undetected and not to give any information that could offer tactical advantages to criminals or terrorists. Therefore, it is more remarkable that all 38 units of ATLAS willingly provided information for this book. They opened their doors and archives to provide exclusive insights into their organisation, activities, and individual characteristics, accompanied by many unpublished images from their everyday life. The content of the units’ portraits was checked by the respective units so that all information is authentic and verified.

Without participation of all 38 units, the ATLAS Network itself as well as Europol this book would not have been possible. My heartfelt thanks therefore go to the commanders and ATLAS officers for their excellent support at all times. I would like to thank Mrs Monique Pariat, Director-General of the Department Migration and Home Affairs of the European Commission, and Mrs Catherine De Bolle, Executive Director of Europol, very much for the benevolent support of this book project and the friendly greetings.

I would particularly like to thank the following people, who gave me the idea for this book and who helped me with the implementation with words and deeds: Police director Dr. med. Renate Bohnen, Councilor Mag. Renate Lanzenbacher, Ministerial Councillor Bernhard Treibenreif B.A. M.A., Dominique Soffers, “Schlagi” and Damian I. My very special thanks go to Norbert Schweinberger for the great advice and help. “Last not least” I would like to thank my editor Dr. Robert Beyer for the absolutely professional processing and Dr. Justin Bender for his excellent English translation.

This book is dedicated to all members of counter-terrorism units, who work every day with a high level of personal commitment and with the risk for life and health to ensure that the citizens of Europe can live safely and peacefully.

Christoph Lippay September 2021