"The United States is a country of laws."

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The European Union has asked for an explanation of U.S. actions, as have individual European allies concerned that their airports, territory or air space may have been used for detention or transport of suspects under conditions illegal in Europe. The continent's top human rights watchdog is investigating.

In Berlin, a government spokesman said Monday that Germany would ask Rice about its list of more than 400 flights and landings in Germany by planes suspected of being used by the CIA.

The European Union's justice commissioner says covert prisons and detainee mistreatment would violate European human rights law, and he warned last week that any host countries could lose voting rights in the powerful 25-nation bloc.

A November report in The Washington Post said that the CIA ran a network of hidden prisons, including some in Eastern European democracies. The story and its aftermath have rekindled opposition to President Bush and his foreign policy in Europe and have threatened to fray diplomatic ties that Rice has tried to forge this year.

The advocacy group Human Rights Watch followed the news report with claims that it has tracked suspicious CIA flights around Europe since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. The group pointed to sites in Poland and Romania as probable hosts for secret prisons, but both those nations have denied it.

Rice's trip was planned before the controversy broke, and her words Monday were an attempt to keep the issue from completely overshadowing her other business. She put the onus to articulate terrorism policies partly on the shoulders of European allies who also are threatened by al-Qaida.

At the same time, she made the point that aggressive work to counter potential terrorists can be uncomfortable for democracies.

"The captured terrorists of the 21st century do not fit easily into traditional systems of criminal or military justice," she said. "We need to adapt."

Information gathered by U.S. intelligence agencies from a "very small number of extremely dangerous detainees" has helped prevent terrorist attacks in several countries, Rice said.

"The United States has fully respected the sovereignty of other countries that have cooperated in these matters," she said. "The United States is a country of laws."