Cybersecurity

Inside the Google of Counter-Terrorism

Once snubbed by the FBI, Europol emerges as a force

Rob Wainwright, executive director of Europol.

Photographer: Yuriko Nakao/Bloomberg
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Shortly after taking over Europol a decade ago, former British MI5 officer Rob Wainwright met with then-FBI Director Robert Mueller to pitch the idea of sharing data, figuring he couldn’t turn the European Union’s budding criminal-intelligence service into a global force without America’s help.

Mueller wasn’t interested, so the Welshman says he winged it.