click for hi-res Acting Commissioner David V. Aguilar, center, met with U.S. Department of Defense officials in Stuttgart on March 21. At left, Deputy Commanding General of U.S. European Command John "Jack" Gardner; Aguilar; at right, Ambassador Larry Butler, EUCOM civilian deputy commander.

In Berlin, Aguilar also gave the keynote address at “Politics and Policy of Border Security,” a conference at the Canadian Embassy sponsored by the Migration Policy Institute and the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs. Senior foreign government officials from Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Poland and Germany participated, in addition to accomplished academics from international universities and organizations, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Aguilar affirmed the successful cooperation between CBP and the German Ministry of Interior (Bundesministerium des Innern), which oversees German federal police (Bundespolizei or BPOL) management of border affairs. Ministry of Interior Director General Franz-Josef Hammerl met with Aguilar in Berlin to discuss plans to build on that cooperation. They specifically highlighted Germany’s hosting of CBP Immigration Advisory Program officials at Frankfurt International Airport since 2007 and the current joint project to partner Global Entry with the German trusted traveler program ABG, the German acronym translated as Automated and Biometrics-Supported Border Controls.

	click for hi-res Acting Commissioner David V. Aguilar receives a demonstration of Germany’s automated border controls at Frankfurt Airport while BPOL Frankfurt Airport Directorate President Wolfgang Wurm observes.

Earlier in his trip, Aguilar visited Frankfurt CBP Immigration Advisory Program operations and was hosted by BPOL Frankfurt Airport Directorate President Wolfgang Wurm. The commissioner also expressed his continued support for the development of a fully functioning reciprocal trusted traveler arrangement between Germany’s ABG and CBP’s Global Entry programs. He received a demonstration of Germany’s automated gates and admissions procedures.

Also in Frankfurt, Aguilar met with Reinhard Huber, Lufthansa senior vice president of product and marketing, and Peter Andres, Lufthansa vice president of corporate security, to express appreciation for the carrier’s support of and role in advancing the joint U.S.-Germany trusted traveller project and other traveler facilitation efforts.

Aguilar also conducted a full day of meetings with key U.S. Department of Defense leaders at U.S. European Command, known as EUCOM, and U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM, in Stuttgart. “These meetings demonstrate the value of CBP’s Combatant Command Advisory positions,” said Christina Bell, the CBP advisor to EUCOM.