Once snubbed by FBI, Europol is now Google of counter-terrorism

Rob Wainwright, executive director of Europol, speaks during an interview inside the European Union (EU) intelligence agency's headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands, on Tuesday, March 20, 2018. Wainwright is leaving the EU intelligence agency he’s led for almost a decade to help run Deloitte LLP's cybersecurity practice, as companies wake up to the growing “systemic” threat of cyber crime. Photographer: Yuriko Nakao/Bloomberg

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.