Review calls for Europe-wide intelligence agency to prevent hybrid attacks
November 4, 2024 4 Comments
A HIGHLY ANTICIPATED REVIEW of the European Union’s intelligence readiness to face conventional and hybrid threats has called for the establishment of a dedicated Europe-wide intelligence agency. Such an agency must rely on EU member states “trust[ing] each other” in order to confront increasingly aggressive espionage, sabotage, and other types of threats by outside actors like Russia, the report said.
Ursula von der Leyen, who presides over the EU’s powerful executive branch, known as the European Commission, assigned the review last March. It was led by Sauli Niinistö, former president of Finland, who was tasked with providing a set with proposals aimed to enhance the resilience of the EU in the face of current threats in the tactical and strategic domains. The final report, available here in PDF, was made publicly available in Brussels on Wednesday.
Among several recommendations, the report proposes the establishment of a “fully fledged intelligence cooperation service at the EU level”, which could serve the EU’s urgent “strategic and operational needs”. Such needs include countering espionage threats within EU institutions, as well as devising Europe-wide networks of defense against sabotage targeting EU critical infrastructure. Part of the new agency’s mission should be to prevent foreign intelligence services from operating “anywhere in the EU”, the report said.
In her public statement upon receiving the report, President von der Leyen stated that the EU should begin to think pre-emptively, rather than reactively, about conventional and unconventional threats to its security. Such a process should begin through “improving the flow of information gathering and intelligence gathering”, initially through existing EU-wide security bodies, such as the European Union Intelligence and Situation Centre (EU-IntCEN) and the European Centre for Information Policy and Security (ECIPS).
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 04 November 2024 | Permalink
intelNews.org 
I like the idea, BUT, it is full of dangers. The ‘bad guys’ are already recruiting folks to infiltrate the new agency so J.J. Angleton needs to come back. I am putting this thing on my watch list – should be interesting.
Will need much funding, infrastructure, recruits, training, counterintelligence experts vetting every employee, and hopefully a proactive frame of mind.
bonjour,
En tant qu’officier sous-traitant DoD/CUI,
un examen très attendu de l’état de préparation de l’Union européenne en matière de renseignement se demande si l’UE est en mesure de faire face aux menaces conventionnelles, hybrides et interculturelles. Cette évaluation souligne la nécessité de créer une agence de renseignement européenne dédiée. Actuellement, les services intégrés de renseignement et de nombreux citoyens européens expriment des attentes claires pour un renforcement de la sécurité de l’Union, car des lacunes importantes persistent, notamment en raison de la libre circulation aux frontières.
Dans le contexte des nombreux conflits mondiaux, 71 % des citoyens de l’UE estiment que l’Europe doit renforcer son autonomie sécuritaire pour développer sa production d’équipements militaires, aujourd’hui trop dépendante des accords avec d’autres pays. Cette prise de conscience s’est accrue avec le conflit en Ukraine, rappelant le besoin de se préparer aux catastrophes, tant sur le plan personnel que géopolitique. Selon un Eurobaromètre de septembre 2024, 58 % des Européens se disent mal préparés à une crise dans leur région. Près des deux tiers estiment également avoir besoin de plus d’informations pour faire face aux risques posés par des pays comme la Russie, la Chine, la Corée du Nord, l’Inde et l’Iran.
Les différents rapports suggèrent un changement radical dans la manière dont l’UE envisage la préparation aux crises, et il est temps que l’Union adopte une approche plus proactive, particulièrement dans les domaines militaire, sécuritaire, policier, et de gestion des catastrophes. Le mécanisme de protection civile de l’Union, par exemple, doit prouver son efficacité, car les impacts du changement climatique se combinent aux conflits. Bien que ce mécanisme soit une bonne base, l’UE a encore du mal à réagir rapidement et des améliorations doivent être apportées à la lumière des derniers rapports.
Enfin, dans un contexte de sécurité mondiale en détérioration, deux lacunes ressortent : le besoin de financement accru pour la sécurité, et une meilleure préparation face aux menaces intérieures et extérieures. Si le budget de sécurité reste limité, les adversaires de l’Europe pourraient en tirer profit, exacerbant les tensions géopolitiques actuelles.
Bonne journée. Pascal lembree.
Many problems with this EU agency proposal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_state_of_the_European_Union
2. A combined EU intelligence agency would be a magnet for economic competition spying and “hostile’ recruitment. Economic intelligence collection on an EU neighbour’s competing industries is standard. For example Sweden, France and Germany all produce submarines and jetfighters that compete against each other for $multi-Billion foreign orders. Each spies on the other. The proposed EU agency would be another venue for this.
3. Vetting recruits. Would recruitment be compromised as recruits it would overtly or implicitly drawn from all 27 EU members?
4. Will the largest member (Germany) send the same number of personnel as the smallest member (Malta)?
5. Will there be common language (German or French but no longer English) or would each intelligence report be translated into the odd 20 or so EU languages – often containing words with subtle but different meaning for each national reader?
6. Would EU member, Hungary, with its pro-Putin leader, be permitted to join the proposed EU agency or would EU member Hungary be excluded? https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/07/11/orban-putin-hungary-russia-war-politics-eu/
7. Trump and strong integration between EU and NATO military security structures – noting NATO is always under a US Supreme (military) Commander. Trump might compromise many things.
Please excuse my oh too frequent typos above. They plagued my prose when I was professionally “on the game” several dyslexic decades ago.