"We need a counterterrorism policy that will actually counter terrorism," Edwards said in remarks prepared for delivery at Pace University. "We've got to throw away the failed George Bush policies of the past, and move in a bold new direction."

Edwards said the centerpiece of his terrorism policy will be a new multilateral organization called the Counterterrorism and Intelligence Treaty Organization. He said it will be designed to coordinate operations like the recent arrest of three suspected terrorists in Germany who were suspected of plans to bomb airports and other institutions in the country.

German anti-terrorist police maintained silence for 10 months as a team of about 1,000 officers built the case against a cell of alleged homegrown terrorists that ended with their arrests as they began mixing a "witches' brew" of homemade explosives, ABC News has learned.

According to ABC News sources, the surveillance of the three suspects that began in December 2006 included observations of them at Hanau and Frankfurt airports as well as at the U.S. Ramstein Air Base and the nightclubs and bars surrounding it.

With constant physical surveillance and electronic wiretaps in place and operating 24 hours a day, authorities say they observed the cell purchase about 1,500 pounds of hydrogen peroxide — a 30 percent concentrate that is useful for bomb making but far in excess of what is needed in commercial applications, such as hair dying.

Sources told ABC News German police surreptitiously entered storage areas where the chemicals were kept in at least 12 drums and replaced the powerful "precursor chemical" with a much-diluted three percent solution.

The police had also bugged the storage area, enabling them to record the suspects as they loaded, unloaded and moved their materials in preparation for making powerful bombs, sources said.

"Those nations who join will, by working together, show the world the power of cooperation," Edwards said. "Those nations who join will also be required to commit to tough criteria about the steps they will take to root out extremists, particularly those who cross borders. Those nations who refuse to join will be called out before the world."

"Most of all, instead of reckless, solo pursuit of an ideological agenda that abandons our moral authority and disregards our allies, we need to re-engage with the world and reassert our moral leadership," Edwards said.

The alleged plot to blow up airplanes with liquid explosives has highlighted the importance of intelligence-sharing, which officials and experts say has improved among countries since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

American officials have strongly praised British intelligence, with President Bush describing U.S.-U.K. cooperation as “solid.”

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Intelligence sharing among the U.S. and other European countries is also very good, as indicated by a “vast intelligence base in Paris,” according to Rosenau.

Disagreements with various European countries over the war in Iraq hasn’t decreased intelligence sharing with those countries because “all of these countries recognize the value of cooperation,” he said.

A U.S. intelligence intercept of suspicious communications between Pakistan and Stuttgart was the initial break that ultimately led to the arrest this week of three suspected Muslim militants accused of plotting massive car bomb attacks here against Americans, U.S. and German officials said Thursday.