MORE OPEN SOURCE INTELLIGENCE FOR THE EUROPEAN UNION? #EEAS

Prior research has deemed such cooperation unlikely, irrelevant or even dangerous due to low gains and high risks. However, multilateral intelligence cooperation both exists and seems to be on the increase.

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As highlighted by the Brussels-based research center Hozint improvement in this area are needed.

According to a recent study by Björn Fägersten, Researcher in Political Science at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, the European Union, and the European External Action Service in particular, should “upgrade the open source capacity of the EU. This report has illustrated that information has more instrumental functions than simply to lay the ground for knowledge. Just as joint information is preferable when forging common action among member states, open source information is preferable in other scenarios.”

This study aims to explain this puzzling development. Drawing on institutional theory, the author advances a model of international intelligence cooperation. The model is applied to the development of multilateral intelligence cooperation in Europe.

Based partly on a unique set of interviews with intelligence officers from eleven states, three cooperative forums are analyzed in detail: Europol, the EU Situation Centre and the Counterterrorism Group.

The author finds that apart from state preferences, the development of intelligence cooperation is largely determined by the self-interest and culture of national agencies, international institutional entrepreneurship and the way power-asymmetries are mirrored in the design of cooperative arrangements.

As well as generating a more thorough understanding of the costs and benefits of international intelligence cooperation, the study offers important insights into future directions of cooperation and its connection to both national security and international policy-making.