The EU Intelligence and Situation Centre (EU INTCEN) is a "civilian

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...

function" of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

(EU). Structurally, it is a directorate of the External Action Service (EEAS) and reports directly to the EU's

High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR/VP) is the chief co-ordinator and representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) within the European Union (EU). The position is currently held ...

. Article 4 of the

Treaty on European Union The Treaty on European Union (2007) is one of the primary Treaties of the European Union, alongside the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The TEU form the basis of EU law, by setting out general principles of the EU's pu ...

, among other things, expressly states that "national security remains the sole responsibility of each Member State". EU INTCEN's analytical products are based on intelligence from the EU Member States' intelligence and security services.

History

The EU INTCEN has its roots in the European Security and Defence Policy 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, decided to use the existing Joint Situation Centre to start producing intelligence based classified assessments. 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. At that time, the centre's mission was: * Contribute to early warning (in conjunction with other Council military staff) through open source material, military and nonmilitary 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. At the request of High Representative Javier Solana, the Council of the European Union agreed in June 2004 to establish within SITCEN a Counter Terrorist Cell. 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''. In 2012, it was officially renamed ''European Union Intelligence Analysis Centre'' (EU INTCEN). It assumed its current name in 2015. Since January 2011, the EU INTCEN is part of the European External Action Service (EEAS) under the authority of the EU's High Representative.http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/documents/sede/dv/sede041011cvsalmi_/sede041011cvsalmi_en.pdf

Directors

William Shapcott William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, a former British diplomat (2001–2010). * , previously the Head of the

Finnish Security Intelligence Service The Finnish Security Intelligence Service ( fi, Suojelupoliisi, Supo; ), formerly the Finnish Security Police, is the security and intelligence agency of Finland in charge of national security, such as counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism, ...

(2011– 2015) * Gerhard Conrad, former Head of Foreign Intelligence Section of the BND (2015–2019). * José Casimiro Morgado, previously Director-General of Portugal's

Serviço de Informações Estratégicas de Defesa The ''Serviço de Informações Estratégicas de Defesa'' or SIED (Portuguese for: Defense Strategic Information Service) is the foreign strategic intelligence agency of Portugal. SIED's mission is to produce information aimed at safeguarding the ...

(2019–present).

Organisation

, the EU INTCEN is composed of three Divisions: * Intelligence Analysis and Reporting Branch. 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. * Intelligence Support Branch. * Intelligence Policy Branch. The total number of EU INTCEN staff in 2012 and 2013 was close to 70.

Single Intelligence Analysis Capacity

Since 2007, the EU INTCEN is part of the Single Intelligence Analysis Capacity (SIAC), which combines civilian intelligence (EU INTCEN) and military intelligence (

EUMS The Military Staff of the European Union (EUMS) is the directorate-general of the European Union's (EU) External Action Service (EEAS) that contributes to the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) by providing strategic advice to the Hi ...

Intelligence Directorate). In the framework of the SIAC, both civilian and military contributions are used to produce all-source intelligence assessments. The EU INTCEN and the

Intelligence Directorate are the main clients of the European Union Satellite Centre, which provides satellite imagery and analysis.

References

External links