European Union Intelligence and Situation Centre

The EU Intelligence and Situation Centre (EU INTCEN) is an intelligence body of the External Action Service (EEAS) of the European Union (EU) under the authority of the EU's High Representative.

EU Intelligence and Situation Centre
Agency overview
FormedMarch 18, 2012 (2012-03-18)
Preceding agency
  • EU Situation Centre
TypeDirectorate in the EEAS
HeadquartersEEAS building
1046 Brussels, Belgium
50°50′33″N 4°23′8″E
Employees70
Agency executive
  • José Casimiro Morgado, Director of the EU Intelligence and Situation Centre
Parent agencyEEAS
Key document

Mission

EU INTCEN's mission is to provide intelligence analysis, early warning and situational awareness to the EU High Representative and to the European External Action Service, to the various EU decision making bodies in the fields of the Common Security and Foreign Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy and Counter-Terrorism, as well as to the EU Member States.[1]

EU INTCEN does this by monitoring and assessing international events, focusing particularly on sensitive geographical areas, terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and other global threats.[1]

The EU command and control (C2) structure, as directed by political bodies which are composed of member states's representatives and generally require unanimous decisions, as of April 2019:[2]

Liaison:          Advice and recommendations          Support and monitoring          Preparatory work     
Political strategic level:
ISSEUCO Pres. (EUCO)Chain of command
Coordination/support
SatCenCIVCOMHR/VP (FAC)
INTCENHR/VP (PMG)HR/VP (PSC) (******)

CEUMC (EUMC)
CMPD

DGEUMS (***) (EUMS)
Military/civilian strategic level:


Dir MPCC (***) (MPCC)		JSCCCiv OpCdr CPCC(*)
Operational level:
MFCdr (****) (MFHQ)HoM (*)
Tactical level:
CC(**) LandCC(**) AirCC(**) MarOther CCs(**)
ForcesForcesForcesForces


*In the event of a CSDP Civilian Mission also being in the field, the relation with the Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability (CPCC) and its Civilian Operation Commander (Civ OpCdr), as well as the subordinate Head of Mission (HoM), are coordinated as shown.
**Other Comonent Commanders (CCs) and service branches which may be established
***The MPCC is part of the EUMS and Dir MPCC is double-hatted as DGEUMS. Unless the MPCC is used as Operation Headquarters (OHQ), either a national OHQ offered by member states or the NATO Command Structure (NCS) would serve this purpose. In the latter instance, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe (DSACEUR), rather than Dir MPCC, would serve as Operation Commander (OpCdr).
****Unless the MPCC is used as Operation Headquarters (OHQ), the MFCdr would be known as a Force Commander (FCdr), and direct a Force Headquarters (FHQ) rather than a MFHQ. Whereas the MFHQ would act both on the operational and tactical level, the FHQ would act purely on the operational level.
*****The political strategic level is not part of the C2 structure per se, but represents the political bodies, with associated support facilities, that determine the missions' general direction. The Council determines the role of the High Representative (HR/VP), who serves as Vice-President of the European Commission, attends European Council meetings, chairs the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) and may chair the Political and Security Committee (PSC) in times of crisis. The HR/VP proposes and implements CSDP decisions.
******Same composition as Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) II, which also prepares for the CSDP-related work of the FAC.

History

The EU INTCEN has its roots in the European Security and Defence Policy of 1999, which put a group of analysts working on open source intelligence under the supervision of the High Representative Javier Solana[3] in what was then called the Joint Situation Centre. In the wake of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington of 11 September 2001, Solana decided to use the existing Joint Situation Centre to start producing intelligence based classified assessments.[4]

In 2002, the Joint Situation Centre started to be a forum for exchange of sensitive information between the external intelligence services of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.[3] At that time, the Centre's mission was:

  • Contribute to early warning (in conjunction with other Council military staff). Sources: open source material, military intelligence, non-military intelligence and diplomatic reporting;
  • Conduct situation monitoring and assessment;
  • Provide facilities for crisis task force; and
  • To provide an operational point of contact for the High Representative.[5]

At the request of Solana,[6] the Council of the European Union agreed in June 2004 to establish within SITCEN a Counter Terrorist Cell.[7] This Cell was tasked to produce Counter Terrorist intelligence analyses with the support of Member States' Security Services.

Since 2005, the SITCEN generally used the name EU Situation Centre.[8] In 2012, it was officially renamed European Union Intelligence Analysis Centre (EU INTCEN).[9] It assumed its current name in 2015.

Since January 2011, the EU INTCEN is part of the European External Action Service (EEAS)[1] under the authority of the EU's High Representative.

Directors

Organisation

As of 2019, the EU INTCEN is composed of two Divisions:[12]

  • Intelligence Analysis and Reporting. It is responsible for providing strategic analysis based on input from the security and intelligence services of the Member States. It is composed of various sections, dealing with geographical and thematic topics.
  • Support/Open Sources Research (OSR).

The total number of EU INTCEN staff in 2012 and 2013 was close to 70.[12]

Single Intelligence Analysis Capacity

Since 2007,[13] the EU INTCEN is part of the Single Intelligence Analysis Capacity (SIAC), which combines civilian intelligence (EU INTCEN) and military intelligence (EUMS Intelligence Directorate). In the framework of the SIAC, both civilian and military contributions are used to produce all-source intelligence assessments.[14]

The EU INTCEN and the EUMS Intelligence Directorate are the main clients of the European Union Satellite Centre, which provides satellite imagery and analysis.[15]

See also

References
  1. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/documents/sede/dv/sede041011cvsalmi_/sede041011cvsalmi_en.pdf
  2. EU Command and Control, p. 13, Military Staff
  3. "Secret Truth" (PDF). Retrieved 21 February 2009.
  4. What could be called the "foundational act" of SITCEN was signed by Javier Solana on 15 November 2001. "Intelligence Cooperation". Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  5. "Select Committee on European Union Seventh Report. Appendix 5. Joint Situation Centre (JSC)". Archived from the original on 16 June 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  6. "Summary of remarks by Javier SOLANA, EU High Representative for the CFSP, on Terrorism and Intelligence Co-operation" (PDF). Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  7. "Select Committee on European Union Fourth Report. EU Counter-Terrorism Activities. Letter from Rt Hon David Blunkett MP, Home Secretary, Home Office to the Chairman". Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  8. See, for example, "Implementation of the EU Strategy against proliferation of WMD. ST 14520/05" (PDF). Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  9. EEAS webpage. "Organisational chart of the EEAS" (PDF). EEAS. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
  10. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/en/esdp/118626.pdf
  11. "Federica Mogherini announces senior appointments in the EEAS".
  12. "EUROPEAN EXTERNAL ACTION SERVICE HQ Organisation chart" (PDF).
  13. Bagdonas, Gintaras (2010). "Evolution of EUMS Intelligence Directorate and a way ahead" (PDF). Impetus (9): 16. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  14. "Answer to a written question - VP/HR - EU Intelligence Analysis Centre (INTCEN) - products and information - E-006018/2012". europa.eu.
  15. "Cooperation". Archived from the original on 6 November 2013. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  • CHENG, Yu-Chin. The Analysis of the European Union Common Intelligence Policy and Agency. JOURNAL OF MEDITERRANEAN AND BALKAN INTELLIGENCE AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL Volume 4 Number 2 2014
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