On ‘a Continuum with Expansion’? Intelligence Cooperation in Europe in the Early Twenty-first Century

Abstract

This article argues that during the early twenty-first century, generally we have witnessed greater intelligence co-operation in Europe. Indeed, we can even appropriately discuss the increased 'regionalisation of intelligence'. Effectively reflecting 'uneven and combined development', persistently these co-operative intelligence trends appear to be occurring haphazardly, non-uniformly and at several different rates at the different levels of relations in the various 'pockets' of European intelligence co-operation. This article concludes by arguing that overall there is the development of an ever-more complex web consisting of a plethora of various overlapping international intelligence liaison arrangements that collectively provide a form of regional intelligence coverage in Europe. How they overlap is important, accounting for the connections, and notably the 'disconnects', that publicly come to our attention.