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. It can be described as t ...

function" of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

(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/Vice-President of the European Commission (HR/VP) is the chief co-ordinator and representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) within the European U ...

. Article 4 of the

Treaty on European Union The Treaty on the 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 forms the basis of EU law, by setting out general principles of the EU's ...

, 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 The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is the European Union's (EU) course of action in the fields of defence and crisis management, and a main component of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The CSDP involves the de ...

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, the EU 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 to: * 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 * Provide an operational point of contact for the High Representative. In June 2004, at the request of High Representative

Javier Solana Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga CYC (; born 14 July 1942) is a Spanish physicist and PSOE politician. After serving in the Spanish government as Foreign Affairs Minister under Felipe González (1992–1995) and as the Secretary Gener ...

, the Council of the European Union agreed 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 has been part of the

European External Action Service The European External Action Service (EEAS) is the diplomatic service in charge of executing all Foreign relations of the European Union, international relations of the European Union. The EEAS is led by the Vice-President of the European Co ...

(EEAS) under the authority of the EU's

High Representative The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission (HR/VP) is the chief co-ordinator and representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) within the European U ...

Directors

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

Finnish Security Intelligence Service The Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (, ; , ), formerly the Finnish Security Police and Finnish Security Intelligence Service, is the Security agency, security and intelligence agency of Finland in charge of national security, such as Co ...

(2011–2015). * Gerhard Conrad, former Head of Foreign Intelligence Section of the BND (2015–2019). *

José Casimiro Morgado José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , ...

, previously the Director-General of Portugal's Serviço de Informações Estratégicas de Defesa (2019–2024). * Daniel Markić, previously the Director of the Croatian Security and Intelligence Agency (2024-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 has been 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 ...

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 The European Union Satellite Centre (EU SatCen; previously EUSC) is the agency of the European Union (EU) that supports the EU's decision-making in the field of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), including crisis management missi ...

, which provides satellite imagery and analysis.

References

External links