Von der Leyen’s Intelligence Gambit: Autonomy for Europe, Angst for INTCEN
WARSAW, POLAND – The European Commission made an ambitious announcement Nov. 11 in Brussels: The European Union has begun to organize a new intelligence body under Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The new EU intelligence service in theory would improve the use of information gathered by the national spy agencies of all member-states. The unit would operate under the EU Commission’s Secretariat-General.
Four individuals briefed on the plans, who spoke to the Financial Times, said the agency will be staffed by officials currently serving within national spy agencies. Having a multi-national structure and staff is predicted to promote more effective collation and integration of information from disparate intelligence organizations.
One of the sources told the London daily, “EU member state spy services know a lot. The commission knows a lot. We need a better way to put all that together and be effective and useful to partners. In intelligence, you need to give something to get something.”
Wartime Creates New Necessities
A number of developments have spurred this initiative. First is talk from the Trump administration in the United States about limiting security guarantees that have long been a considerable reassurance to NATO member-states in Europe. The new tone from Washington has convinced EU states that they need to work toward becoming as autonomous and self-sufficient as possible.
Further, Washington has suggested that it might scale back its intelligence-sharing arrangements with Europe. Until recently, the U.S. limited access to intelligence data that was needed for strikes conducted with European long-range weapons such as the MBDA Storm Shadow against targets in Russia.
The implications of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine have also exerted no small influence on Europeans now intent on building up their own intelligence capacities. The intelligence effort parallels European nations’ moves to carry out massive rearmament programs.
Indeed, U.S. President Donald Trump’s warnings of reduced American security support to Europe have spurred the EU to rethink its homegrown security capabilities and begin its most ambitious rearmament drive since the Cold War. Meanwhile, Russia and its proxies are accelerating their hybrid warfare campaign on the continent.
Is Another Agency The Correct Answer?
But the decision to create a new EU intelligence agency is opposed by numerous senior officials within the EU’s diplomatic service, which administers the EU’s Intelligence and Situation Centre (INTCEN).
Their position is that a new Commission-led agency would largely duplicate their unit’s role. The INTCEN could be marginalized, or even subsumed within the new agency.
A Commission spokesperson told the Financial Times that it was “examining how to strengthen its security and intelligence capabilities. As part of this approach, the creation of a dedicated cell within the [secretariat-general] is being considered.”
“The concept is being developed and discussions are ongoing. No specific timeline has been set,” they said, adding that it “would build on existing expertise within the commission and…closely co-operate with respective services of EEAS [European External Action Service].”
As of now, the detailed plan for this service has not been officially communicated to the EU’s 27 member-states. It is not known how officials would be brought in from member-states’ national intelligence agencies.
There are considerable obstacles to the effort. States such as France that have long maintained extensive intelligence capacities have never been anxious to freely share information with others. Another concern is how to handle sensitive information when some governments in the EU—such as in Hungary and Slovakia—harbor measurable pro-Russian sentiments.
But the most caustic criticism of the proposal concerns Von der Leyen herself, and her past performance in other executive government positions.
A satirical critique of the project from hotair.com refers to her as “the most dangerous politician in Europe. She has already caused infinite damage in Germany and continues her work of destruction with the combustion engine ban, the supply chain law, the Green New Deal, and now a new intelligence service.”
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson has thirty-six years of experience analyzing and reporting on foreign weapons systems, defense technologies, and international arms export policy. Johnson is the Director of the Asia Research Centre at the Casimir Pulaski Foundation. He is also a survivor of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He worked for years in the American defense industry as a foreign technology analyst and later as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Departments of the Navy and Air Force, and the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia. In 2022-2023, he won two awards in a row for his defense reporting. He holds a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and a master’s degree from Miami University in Ohio, specializing in Soviet and Russian studies. He lives in Warsaw.
