The EU has long been seen as confederation that has failed to assert itself effectively on the international stage. In this collection, a series of experts discuss how the EU has shed its reputation as a weak international actor in light of its policies on police cooperation and intelligence-sharing as part of the global effort to combat terrorism

The Treaty on the European Union stipulates that one of the key objectives of the Union is to provide citizens with a high level of safety within an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. Given that the fight against terrorism is a prominent aspect of this general objective, it is remarkable that, in spite of its political relevance and decade-long history, it has only relatively recently received due attention in the academic community. Yet an analysis of the successes and failures of the EU's involvement in this field is imperative and this is a particularly pertinent moment to take stock of progress. The goal of this book is therefore to look back at the post-9/11 period and answer the question of whether, when it comes to the measures taken to combat terrorism following these attacks, the EU has lived up to the promise made in its founding treaties. In pursuing this goal, this volume presents the views of leading experts casting a critical eye over the EU's performance, recognising achievements but also being suitably critical when the realities did not match the European rhetoric. In doing this, the book makes a significant contribution not only to the scholarly investigation of European Union policies, but also to the study of counter-terrorism in general. This book was published as a special issue of Intelligence and National Security.

This book investigates everyday practices of intelligence cooperation in anti-terrorism matters, with a specific focus on the relationship between Europe and Britain. The volume examines the effective involvement of British anti-terrorism efforts in European cooperation arrangements, which until now have been overshadowed by the UK-US ‘special relationship’ and by political debates that overstate the divide between Britain and continental Europe. In arguing that British intelligence has always had a European dimension, it provides a distinct perspective to the study of intelligence cooperation and the role of British intelligence therein. Mobilizing a ‘field theory’ approach, the book provides an original contribution to the understanding of intelligence cooperation by investigating everyday bureaucratic practices of ‘ground-level’ security professionals and police forces, embedded in a European ‘field’ structured around the exchange of anti-terror intelligence. It also accounts for the drivers behind cooperation by using ‘field analysis,’ which explains the trajectory and positioning of actors according to their ‘capitals’ rather than necessities dictated by threats or state decisions. This book will be of much interest to students of Security Studies, International Political Sociology, Intelligence Studies, and International Relations in general.

The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States and the subsequent revelation of Al Qaeda cells in Europe gave new momentum to European Union (EU) initiatives to combat terrorism and improve police, judicial, and intelligence cooperation among its member states. Other deadly incidents in Europe, such as the Madrid and London bombings in 2004 and 2005, respectively, injected further urgency into strengthening EU counterterrorism capabilities. Among other steps, the EU has established a common definition of terrorism and a common list of terrorist groups, an EU arrest warrant, enhanced tools to stem terrorist financing, and new measures to strengthen external EU border controls and improve transport security. Over the years, the EU has also encouraged member states to devote resources to countering radicalization and terrorist recruitment; such efforts have received renewed attention in light of concerns about the threats posed by European fighters returning from the conflicts in Syria and Iraq, highlighted most recently by the November 13, 2015, attacks in Paris, France. Promoting law enforcement and intelligence cooperation with the United States has been another top EU priority since 2001. Washington has largely welcomed enhanced counterterrorism cooperation with the EU. Since 9/11, contacts between U.S. and EU officials on police, judicial, and border control policy matters have increased substantially. A number of U.S.-EU agreements have been reached; these include information-sharing arrangements between the United States and EU police and judicial bodies, U.S.-EU treaties on extradition and mutual legal assistance, and accords on container security and airline passenger data. In addition, the United States and the EU have been working together to curb terrorist financing, strengthen transport security, and address the foreign fighter phenomenon. Nevertheless, some challenges persist in fostering closer U.S.-EU cooperation in these fields. Among the most prominent and long-standing are data privacy and data protection issues. The negotiation of several U.S.-EU information-sharing agreements, from those related to tracking terrorist financial data to sharing airline passenger information, has been complicated by EU concerns about whether the United States could guarantee a sufficient level of protection for European citizens' personal data. EU worries about U.S. data protection safeguards and practices were further heightened by the unauthorized disclosures of U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance programs in mid-2013 and subsequent allegations of U.S. collection activities in Europe. Other issues that have led to periodic tensions include detainee policies, differences in the U.S. and EU terrorist designation lists, and balancing measures to improve border controls and border security with the need to facilitate legitimate transatlantic travel and commerce. Congressional decisions related to data privacy, intelligence-gathering, border controls, visa policy, and transport security may affect how future U.S.-EU counterterrorism cooperation evolves.

This book examines how international intelligence cooperation has come to prominence post-9/11 and introduces the main accountability, legal and human rights challenges that it poses. Since the end of the Cold War, the threats that intelligence services are tasked with confronting have become increasingly transnational in nature – organised crime, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and terrorism. The growth of these threats has impelled intelligence services to cooperate with contemporaries in other states to meet these challenges. While cooperation between certain Western states in some areas of intelligence operations (such as signals intelligence) is longstanding, since 9/11 there has been an exponential increase in both their scope and scale. This edited volume explores not only the challenges to accountability presented by international intelligence cooperation but also possible solutions for strengthening accountability for activities that are likely to remain fundamental to the work of intelligence services. The book will be of much interest to students of intelligence studies, security studies, international law, global governance and IR in general.

This book investigates the emergence of an EU strategic intelligence community as a complex multi-dimensional networked construction. It examines the constitution, structure and performance of EU intelligence arrangements as part of security policies of the European Union. Intelligence security has become a remarkable feature of the European integration processes. This study assess the ability of EU Member States, as well as relevant institutions and agencies, to develop effective, legitimate and accountable institutions and mechanisms for collection, transmission, processing and exchange of intelligence. In this regard, synergy is a key indicator that validates the ability to create the European strategic intelligence community in the EU’s legal and institutional framework. This groundbreaking project constructs a comprehensive model of the intelligence community as a distorted epistemic community tailored to singularities of EU security policies and systemic arrangements provided by EU institutions and agencies.

Examines the evolution of U.S.-European Union (EU) counter-terrorism cooperation. Contents: (1) Background on EU Efforts Against Terrorism; (2) U.S.-EU Counter-terrorism Cooperation: Progress to Date; New Law Enforce. and Intell. Cooperation Agree.; Stemming Terrorist Financing; Border Control and Transport Security: Container Security; Passenger Name Record Data; Aviation Security; (3) Ongoing Challenges: Data Privacy: Tracking Terrorist Financing; Sharing Airline Passenger Data; U.S.-EU Framework Agree. on Data Protection; Balancing Transatlantic Travel, Commerce, and Security: Visa Waiver Program; Cargo Screening; Detainee Issues and Civil Liberties; Differences in the U.S. and EU Terrorist Lists.

The epidemic of wars and military clashes from Syria to Yemen, the rising powers of China and Russia, and the turbulence in Pakistan, Central Asia and North Africa all underscore the urgent need for a highly professional intelligence agency within the European Union and between the EU and the UK in particular.However, the author shows that although the European Union introduced its common security policy more than two decades ago, EU member states mistrust each other and have failed to develop and fully integrate professional measures for intelligence-sharing to reduce security risks and the challenges of domestic radicalization and extremism. This book is a critical analysis of the poor state of intelligence sharing in the West. At the law enforcement level, and intelligence surveillance cooperation of PRISM, TEMPORA, UPSTREAM, ECHELON, NSA and Five-Eye intelligence alliance with the EU member states. Most of the current intelligence problems within the European Union, whether they relate to predicting surprise attacks, the politicization of intelligence, or questions of ethics and privacy are old conundrums. It is hard to escape the feeling that closer attention to obvious lessons from the past would have assisted European Union intelligence sharing in avoiding the recent attacks in Paris and Brussels.

"Published in cooperation with NATO Public Diplomacy Division."