Subscribe
Apple
Current Issue
Published as part of
Back Copies Image
CTG is a part of…
European Intelligence Sharing
09 Feb 2011The plot to launch multiple attacks across European cities, ‘Mumbai 2008 style’, uncovered by Western intelligence agencies – those of several European countries as well as the CIA – in September, reinforces just how critical intelligence sharing among nations is. But despite having a Common Foreign and Security Policy, the European Union (EU) has no official, federal intelligence service. As the European Community and European Economic Area expanded from the 1990s onwards, and following the Maastricht Treaty which created the EU, in 1992, there was consensus among member states
Current bodies and mechanisms
The heart of the EU’s intelligence operation is the Joint Situation Centre (SitCen), founded in 2000. Its main role is to draft security reports; SitCen officers also travel to flashpoints to assist EU delegations in carrying out research. Member states’ security services feed SitCen sensitive security information, but the bureau has to remain loyal to Brussels, not any one member state. It is comprised of around 100 personnel, mainly intelligence officers and open source analysts seconded from the 12 ‘old’ member states and five countries which joined the EU after 2004. From 1 December 2010, it will become part of the European External Action Service (EEAS), under the command of EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton.
The European Union Satellite Centre, based in Spain, uses EU and member states’ owned satellites to gather and share satellite imagery. Every security service within the EU, Norway and Switzerland is a member of the Counter Terrorist Group, which convenes quarterly at head of service level to share information. There are several smaller bodies within the EU, involved in security and intelligence research and support, including the Paris-based European Union Institute of Security Studies, an EU Agency and think-tank.
The EU Observer reported in September that EU diplomats have said there is no political will among the majority of members to form a European Intelligence Service, to carry out covert operations, although Belgium and Austria have previously proposed creating a European agency modelled on the CIA, in order to fight terrorism. John Nomikos, Director of the Research Institute for European and American Studies, says that European intelligence sharing has been inhibited by concerns of national sovereignty and fear of spoiling privileged relationships; many NATO countries have individual intelligence sharing arrangements with the United States. Bjorn Muller-Wille, senior lecturer at Sandhurst Royal Military Academy says that the better use of EU bodies involved in intelligence will lead to better pooling of that intelligence, and that there is no need for a new EU intelligence agency. MORE ONLINE