US embassy cable - 04BRUSSELS2498

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 002498 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/ERA AND INR/EU 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/10/2014 
TAGS: PREL, PTER, PINR, EUN, USEU BRUSSELS 
SUBJECT: EU HI-REP SOLANA PROPOSES EU INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS 
INCLUDE INTERNAL THREATS 
 
REF: USEU BRUSSELS 1338 
 
Classified By: USEU/POL: Harry O'Hara, reasons 1.4 b and d 
 
1. (C/NF) Summary: At the EU Ministers for Justice and Home 
Affairs (JHA) June 8 meeting, Council Hi-Rep Javier Solana 
said he would call on leaders at next week's European Council 
to extend the scope of the EU Situation Center (SitCen) from 
external threats to internal threats within the EU. Solana 
Cabinet member and intelligence advisor William Shapcott 
(please protect) told us that he expects the Council to 
approve the recommendation and to start implementation 
soonest.    END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (U) EU Ministers for Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) on 
June 8 prepared for next week's discussion by EU leaders as a 
follow-up to their March Declaration on combating terrorism. 
This involved consideration (in restricted session) of a 
number of reports requested by the leaders last March as part 
of the EU's response to the Madrid attacks.  EU Council 
Secretary-General/CFSP High Rep Solana presented his report 
 
SIPDIS 
on terrorism and intelligence cooperation.  Speaking at a 
joint press conference with EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator 
de Vries following his presentation to ministers, Solana said 
he was calling to build on existing cooperation within the EU 
Joint SitCen located within the Council Secretariat. 
 
3. (C/NF) Shapcott, who also heads the SitCen, told us of his 
overall staff or 65, seven analysts cover terrorist threats. 
He said that he and Solana expect the Council of Ministers to 
support the expansion of coverage to internal threats next 
week. When this happens, Shapcott plans to increase the 
number of terrorist analysts to 18.  He also hopes to bring 
in more member-states reps into the SitCen. Currently, 
analysts are seconded from UK, France, Germany, Italy, the 
Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. As an aside, he said that the 
SitCen would be "similar to that of INR" (he noted his visit 
to INR in 2002) in that it would do analysis, not collection, 
based on intelligence and analysis coming from the 
member-states. 
 
4. (SBU) Solana proposed that the SitCen should henceforth be 
able to analyze input on internal threats to the EU based on 
the input and staff from the Interior Ministries of the 
Member States.  Solana described the proposed mechanism as 
"very simple," saying, "It can be very efficient and 
implemented very rapidly."  The enlarged body would have 
communication links with EUROPOL and would be able to draw 
from the existing EU Counter-Terrorism Group that assembles 
the chiefs of intelligence agencies of the EU countries. 
Solana described his proposal as "a first but important 
step"." 
 
5. (C/NF) Shapcott compared this step with US intelligence 
analysis now including material from the FBI. He said that 
planning for this had started in February and had been 
expected to take a year to bring to fruition. He noted that 
as a result of the Madrid bombings, there was increased EU 
political pressure to move quickly to "tear down the 
invisible wall" between the EU and the rest of the world. He 
said that the EU needs to respond to a "logic of terrorism" 
that does not recognize borders. 
 
6. (U) A summary of Solana's presentation to the ministers 
subsequently released by the Council (full text forwarded to 
EUR/ERA) notes that the heads of the security services of the 
Member States have given their support to the Solana 
proposal.  The paper highlights three core ideas on which 
Solana will seek the backing of EU leaders: 
 
--    Moves by the heads of the EU's 25 security services to 
meet as a group on a regular basis the format of the existing 
Counter-Terrorist Group (CTG); 
 
--    The work of the CTG would allow for closer analytical 
exchanges between Security Services and would provide scope 
for improved operational cooperation; 
 
--    Moves by EUROPOL to reactivate its Counter-Terrorist 
Task Force and efforts to improve the flow of criminal 
intelligence to EUROPOL. 
 
7. (U) Solana said his proposal would allow for: 
 
--    EU decision makers to be better informed, inter alia, 
about threats, terrorist methods, organization of terrorist 
groups, and thus better prepared to devise effective EU 
counter-terrorist policies; 
--    Member States to receive better support from European 
bodies:  They would get material from the EU's SitCen, and 
their police services in particular would get better support 
from EUROPOL; 
 
--    Member States to retain the lead in the operational 
field, while working more closely together through CTG, 
EUROPOL, as well as through existing bilateral arrangements, 
to strengthen information exchange and cooperation. 
 
8. (U) The Council also considered a draft report to the 
European Council on the implementation of the Declaration, 
which records progress made toward the adoption of 
implementation of a number of EU measures listed in the 
Declaration.  EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Gijs de Vries 
told the press conference a related draft Plan of Action on 
combating terrorism, to be presented to EU leaders next week, 
would identify a number of measures to be taken by the EU 
with specific targets for adoption of the proposal by the 
Commission and final endorsement by the Council.  de Vries 
said the plan would offer a roadmap in the form of an 
18-month rolling program for the upcoming EU Presidencies 
that could be adopted every six months. 
 
9. (U) de Vries also presented two other reports, one dealing 
with peer evaluation and the other dealing with ways to 
improve the speed of implementation of legislative measures 
adopted by the Council.  Another report from EUROJUST (EU 
Prosecutors' Office) contains recommendations to improve the 
capacity of EUROJUST to contribute to the fight against 
terrorism.  In addition, the Council adopted the EUROPOL work 
program for 2005 that takes account of the objective of 
reinforcing the role of EUROPOL in the fight against 
terrorism. 
 
10. (U) The Council adopted conclusions on the follow-up to 
the Declaration.  These also note the report on the terrorist 
attacks in Madrid prepared by the Police Chiefs Task Force 
and the review undertaken by the same group on how their 
operational capacity should be reinforced to focus on 
proactive intelligence.  Full text has been transmitted to 
EUR/ERA. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
11. (C/NF) Solana's proposals are an attempt to bridge the 
gap between pillars 2 (foreign policy) and 3 (justice and 
home affairs). By consolidating national information in the 
SitCen, he hopes to build on the sort of multi-country 
synergies that led to the round-up of Islamic militants in 
several EU countries earlier this week. His proposal would 
still protect the basic principles of national competency in 
operational intelligence. Still the challenge for the SitCen 
-- to convince national security agencies in member-states to 
begin sharing more timely actionable intelligence -- remains. 
 Complicating Solana's efforts will be some member-state 
questions and concerns about sharing materials with all other 
EU members, Cyprus and Malta in particular. 
FOSTER