The U.S. has won a hard-fought victory after getting the EU to hand over financial data linked to suspected terrorists.

The five-year deal comes after Washington agreed to allay European concerns over privacy. Even so, U.S. officials will have to supply sufficient evidence for their suspicions, delete innacurate information and allow legal redress in U.S. courts if any affected parties feel they've been wronged.

NPR's counter-terrorism correspondent, Dina Temple-Raston, says that a European representative will have to be present when the information is handed over to U.S. officials.

In 2006, the EU expressed anger after the disclosure of the U.S. Terrorist Finance Tracking Program, a secret operation launched in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. That program had been surreptiously accessing European financial data through SWIFT, the consortium that handles electronic wire transfers.

The new U.S.-EU deal follows an earlier one that was scuttled by the European Parliament because it was said to lack safeguards against abuse.