1 - What initially attracted you to the ICE, and what motivated you to take on the role of Director of the Permanent Secretariat?

Being the first director of the Permanent Secretariat of the College of Intelligence in Europe (ICE) was, for me, a great honour and an unforgettable experience. I accepted the role with much humility, but above all, with great enthusiasm.

A direct result of the 2017 Sorbonne speech, which I continue to regard as one of the most important speeches on Europe in recent years, the College of Intelligence in Europe project, now involving nearly thirty countries, is not only a challenge but also a significant ambition. Looking back, when I reflect on my two years leading the Permanent Secretariat of the College of Intelligence in Europe, I am proud to have been part of this endeavour and to have guided the College through its initial steps.

2 - Looking back, what do you consider ICE’s greatest achievements during your time as Director? Were there any specific initiatives or developments that you found particularly impactful?

First and foremost, I would like to pay tribute to our predecessors who were pioneers in launching this project. After the Sorbonne speech, it was necessary to bring to life an unprecedented project. This pioneering team rose to the challenge with much courage and dedication. We must not forget what we owe them.

As for me, I took up my post while we were very much under stress from the COVID pandemic. The real challenge was to buttress our project in a context that allowed neither travel nor the full mobilization of all the stakeholders involved.

Thanks to the small team working with me, whose resilience and hard work I wish to acknowledge, we reached out to each of our interlocutors (using all available means: emails, phone calls, videoconferences) to explain the project, its stakes, key milestones, and our strategy.

This initial dialogue, built on trust and empathy, enabled us, once the final COVID-related obstacles were lifted, to launch seminars, conferences, and publications quickly.

During my tenure, we launched the website. We organized the first steering committee of the College in Paris. We actively participated in the “Fabrique Défense” Forum, where we were able to present the College’s role in building an autonomous strategic culture in Europe to numerous young people. On that occasion, we organized a roundtable with senior intelligence officials. I also started a dialogue with IFRI with a view to launching a series of conferences on intelligence, and I am proud to see that project now realized, just as I am proud to see the active collaboration today between academic institutions and the College. I am aware of the significant work done to achieve this objective, and the Permanent Secretariat can only express gratitude to all those who invested in this sensitive matter.

3 – Coordinating 31 countries and their respective intelligence services in a newly established institution is no small feat. From your perspective, what was the most challenging aspect of this coordination and what impressed you the most?

Yes, coordinating the intelligence services of more than thirty countries is no mean feat. However, I believe it is easier to coordinate intelligence services than other State services, as despite our “ideological” differences, we still speak the same language and face the same challenges and threats today.

Of course, we had to convince those who had reservations about the College’s rationale, but what ultimately prevailed was a collective realization of the role that intelligence services, beyond their operational missions, have to play in building our political Europe and a shared strategic vision.

Through the numerous discussions I had during my time leading the Permanent Secretariat, what impressed me the most was the quality of the individuals I met. I discovered cultures I didn’t know, particularly those of Northern European countries, whose analysis I greatly admire. I witnessed the commitment and dedication of high-ranking officials—from Croatia, which held the presidency of the College when I arrived and offered unwavering support, to Italy, which assumed the presidency shortly before my departure with remarkable seriousness, to Romania and Spain, which were incredibly committed, especially in academic matters. I would also like to mention Germany’s key role in the initial phase of the project.

4 – What advice would you offer to continue building and strengthening European intelligence culture?

We must invest in youth, and everything that can be done to create synergies between individuals of the same generation will only strengthen a shared intelligence culture. The training programs currently developing within the College are a great opportunity and a guarantee of success for our project.

We must also innovate—create topics for synergy, invent new operational methods within the College, and develop new tools to strengthen our cohesion. As philologist and philosopher Heinz Wismann wrote, “Europe belongs only to those who dare to reinvent it,” and this applies to the world of intelligence in the first place.

The actions undertaken by the College are promising and forward-looking. I can only congratulate my successor and the team leading the Permanent Secretariat for the progress made over the past nearly three years.

5 – What is your vision for the future of ICE, and what do you hope it will achieve in the coming years?

The upheavals facing our world today profoundly impact intelligence services. The College of Intelligence in Europe must be a tool to address these changes and the disruptions we are witnessing.

It must become a mandatory step in the career paths of European intelligence officers and eventually become a true General Staff school for European intelligence (and I do emphasize European intelligence). But our ambition must go further. The College of Intelligence can also act as a trailblazer. In the face of current events which often prevent us from addressing future issues, the College must break new ground, anticipate, and imagine the unimaginable. Our different perspectives, cultures, and histories are a tremendous asset for thinking about the future together and reinventing ourselves in the face of the outside world. In this great challenge, European intelligence services are more vital than ever, and the College of Intelligence in Europe deserves all the attention it receives.

The Intelligence week project conceived by Margarita Šešelgytė, Director of the International Relations & Political Sciences (IIRPS) Institute of Vilnius has entered its 5 th year ! Five years of success and improvements! This outstanding outreach activity authorises students in their BA year to understand better how intelligence works to secure & protect their nation and our democratic European culture on one side and, then, learn how an intelligence report and a VIP briefing is prepared and delivered.

It makes them understand the difference between media reporting and an analytical report, with all its challenges and the level of tradecraft & expertise associated to this exercise! It will serve them even if they don’t join a security or an intelligence Service, at least as an informed citizen or, in some cases, as an informed client, i.e. as a future intel. consumer. 

Associated nearly since the beginning - the Intelligence College in Europe has invited Margarita Šešelgytė to the La Fabrique Defense Event in January 2022, is proud to participate to this project and to support it!

The Permanent Secretariat of ICE (ICE PS) is alongside members of the Lithuanian Intelligence & Security Service (VSD), the Vice-minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Survila and the Ambassador of Netherlands member of the selection jury.

In 2024, the 5^th anniversary of the founding of the Intelligence College, ICE PS is happy to offer the First Prize for the best students’ team, an invitation to Paris and to the Paris Defense Security Forum 2025 (PDSF 2025) which will take place in the very beginning of March 2025, organised by the French ACADEM (Académie de défense de l'École militaire).

A really nice outreach activity, contributing to build a stronger European intelligence culture, which, ideally, will benefit to be replicated in other countries!

Strengthening European Security and Intelligence Cooperation

On October 24, 2024, the Centro Nacional de Inteligencia (CNI) and the Intelligence College in Europe (ICE) held an outreach event at the École Royale Militaire in Brussels, with the participation of key EU officials, national Points of Contact (POCs) from ICE member states, selected Intelligence Services officials and influential think tankers. The event provided a platform for senior officials and intelligence leaders to discuss the evolving role of intelligence in the European Union and focused on the strategic value of intelligence in decision-making as well as the collaborative frameworks within the EU.

The day began with welcome addresses by Mr. Arturo Relanzón, CNI Secretary General, and Mr. François Fischer, ICE Permanent Secretariat Director. Both of them have stressed the relevance and the timeliness of such a conference, the first made in Brussels on Intelligence services and the European Union institutions, just at the time where the future of SIAC (1), with a view on “Strengthening SIAC”, and the Niniisto report were to be discussed (2).

The conference itself was organised mainly around three roundtables moderated by former Nato ASG Intelligence Freytag von Loringhoven, by ICE.PS Director and by SG CNI, high-level roundtables followed by a strategic speech from the EEAS Secretary General :  

The first morning roundtable has examined the functional development of EU intelligence, from SITCEN to INTCEN and the Single Intelligence Analysis Capacity (SIAC) before focusing on the EU needs and the ways to ensure the timely redistribution of intelligence to all the relevant EU institutions, and not only EEAS or the PSC. The two directors of SIAC, Mr Daniel Markic and General Baev, have also insisted, in a time when partnership with like-minded countries is growing massively, be it in Nato or in bilateral format, on the need to maintain SIAC as the single point of entry for strategic intelligence. 

The second roundtable has allowed three major intelligence EU customers, Mr Bartjan Wegter, the EU CT Coordinator, Mr Ilkka Salmi, DDG Commission in charge of the Security, and Mr Francisco Fontan, the HRVP Head of Cabinet, to express their needs and comments.

In these two roundtables was emphasised the importance of intelligence for EU policy-makers. Panellists offered their perspectives on trust-building among member states and between Member states and the institutions. Discussions on the need to adapt to the policy rh ythm, to ensure relevance and timeliness has led to some new ideas, especially on the interest to brief directly high ranking EU decision-makers as SIAC has begun to do.

The afternoon session has allowed the General Director of Lithuania and the Deputies of DGs from Belgium and France to highlight the complementarity of internal, external, and military intelligence services, a strong point of the SIAC concept.

Mr. Stefano Sannino, Secretary-General of the EEAS, has then given the last lecture of this very dense conference with a forward-looking perspective on EU security, insisting on the need to adapt to the new EU “ecosystem”, i.e. the new EU security paradigm in terms of military & security defence, in terms of economic security and the need of “all of society” approach to tackle all the threats. Inter alia, he thanks the Member States services for their inputs, through the EU Threat assesments, to the strategic Compass.

This very timely ICE outreach event underscored the EU’s commitment to fostering a more unified intelligence community through trust and collaboration. Very important also, the need for the intelligence & security services to be more heard in Brussels has been highlighted by various EU actors.

In a notable prelude on October 23, ICE and SIAC signed a letter of intent to enhance cooperation, therefore reaffirming their dedication to shared training and operational support and highlighting the unity of the intelligence community in Brussels.

ICE.PS thanks here the Spanish Presidency but also our Belgian friends for all their mobilisation to ensure the full success of this first conference in Brussels on this topic; a conference which was built on the experience gained on 31st of May and 1st of June 2023 during a first Ecole Royale Militaire conference organised by the VSSE and on 19-20 of September 2023 during the conference organised in Madrid with the full support of Ortega y Gasset foundation.  

(1) The civ/mil Single Intelligence Analysis Capacity, regrouping the forces of the civilian EU INTCEN and the military EUMS.INT.

(2) Despite some first leaks in the press the days before, the report drafted by the former Finn President was released 5 days after the Conference.

Access the closing remarks by Mr. Arturo Relanzón, Secretary General of the CNI, here!

On October 23rd, at the Ecole Royale Militaire (ERM) in Brussels, the Intelligence College in Europe (ICE) and the directors of the Single Intelligence Analysis Capacity (SIAC), General Baev from EUMS.INT and Director D. Markic, signed a letter of intent for cooperation.

This agreement follows a series of ICE training sessions provided to SIAC, including a collaborative course specifically designed for SIAC analysts. It serves as a renewed testament to the unity within our Intelligence and Security community, emphasizing our commitment to strengthening SIAC.

The signing ceremony was one of three significant events that underscored the advancements and maturation of ICE as we celebrate its fifth anniversary. This occurred alongside ICE's participation in the Paris Defence & Security Forum 2024 and our Academic Network Conference in Salamanca.

On a personal note, the Director of ICEs Permanent Secretariat (ICE PS) recalls being present in Paris in March 2019 as the EU Head of Division, serving as the deputy to the Director and one of the SIAC managers at the launch of the Intelligence College by the French President, attended by senior leaders and deputies from various European intelligence services. Who could have imagined that five years later, the former Deputy Director of INTCEN would be signing such a significant agreement with the SIAC Directors as the Director of ICE PS?

The signing took place in the presence of numerous high-ranking intelligence and security representatives, just before the icebreaker for the inaugural Brussels Conference on “European Intelligence & the European Union Institutions”.

We extend our gratitude to all 26 full ICE member countries, the Spanish Presidency of ICE, Norway, our upcoming Presidency, and our Belgian friends for their invaluable support of this event.

To read more about our previous event at Ecole Royale Militaire click here.

Week 43, the Romanian Intelligence Academy “Mihai Viteazul” (ANIMV) and the European Security and Defence College (ESDC) Doctoral School organised a very dynamic and high-quality Advanced Expert Course on Hybrid Threats in Bucharest.

This course, open to ESDC Doctoral School students and intelligence practitioners from both Member States and EU institutions, was of impressive quality!

The Permanent Secretariat of ICE, an associate network partner of ESDC, which had already been invited in 2022 to the ESDC Doctoral School annual conference, was more than happy to support this initiative, bridging academic and intelligence expertise on these complex types of threats!

After presenting the EU intelligence and security setup, including on Hybrid Threats (with a special focus on the EU Hybrid Fusion Cell created in 2016 within EU INTCEN), the ICE.PS Director emphasized the impact of the hybrid thematic on the EU intelligence structure, as well as EU-NATO cooperation. Following this, in a more concise manner, the possible role of ICE in building a stronger European strategic culture—a crucial feature when addressing hybrid threats—was explained.

The high quality of the participants made this advanced expert course exceptionally dynamic and interactive!

Congratulations to ANIMV and to the ESDC Doctoral School!

Already invited in March this year to a very interesting and insightful Intelligence
Symposium co-organised by the Federal Chancellery and Ministry of Interior, The Permanent Secretariat of ICE was again invited to the Intelligence Conference organised by Behörden Spiegel on the 17th and 18th of October, titled “Die deutschen Dienste in der Zeitenwende.”

A few days after the interviews in the German Parliament of the three heads of the German Federal Intelligence Services (BND, BFV & BAMAD), this high-level conference offered an occasion to reflect on the impact of the epochal shift (“Zeitenwende” (1)) we are experiencing on the Services.

The Permanent Secretariat of ICE was invited to participate in this conference and contributed to the debate alongside, among others, Prof. Jan-Hendrik Dietrich, discussing the necessary adaptations in intelligence culture, intelligence & security awareness, and intelligence training.

The ICE representatives had the pleasure of reconnecting with some old friends, both within the German Community and with the panelists of the roundtable on the role of intelligence in EU and NATO decision-making processes!

Special thanks again to one of the organisers and a moderator, Dr. Gerhard Conrad, currently Intelligence & Security advisor at MSC!

(1) Referring to the Bundestag speech by Chancellor Olaf Scholz on 27 February 2022, recognizing the historical turning point marked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

To read about the previous symposium, click here.

In October 2024, in accordance to the SIAC-ICE Letter of Intention for cooperation signed in the Ecole Royale Militaire, the Intelligence College in Europe (ICE) academic network has delivered a joint Analytical course to the SIAC Analysts.

This second edition is participating to the joint civilian-military culture of EUMS.INT and EU INTCEN Analysts, regrouped in the Single Intelligence Analysis Capacity.

A good example of what an european intelligence culture could mean practically !

The Spanish Intelligence Academy from CNI, the Romanian Intelligence Academy (ANIMV) from SRI and the multinational Osint Center of Excellence of Zagreb have united their forces to deliver this crosscutting European course.

Spain, currently assuming the Intelligence College in Europe (ICE) Presidency after the EU Presidency in 2023, has covered a need repeatedly expressed in the Steering Committee meetings of the College: the Intelligence Officers of our Services should be aware of the European structures.

For this purpose, Spain has organized a high-level postgraduate course, in an hybrid format, beginning in March 2024 by E-learning sessions and concluding week 38 by an on-site course in Toledo.

This demanding course was organized with the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) and its excellent Center of European Studies “Luis Ortega Alvarez”, providing the possibility of obtaining an official certification according to the European Framework of Bologna.

This very “first” has been a success, not only attracting a great number of attendees coming from a very large number of countries, representing all the regions of Europe, but also attendees of high quality, very well positioned in their national community.

The lectures delivered the last day of the course by Ricardo sanchéz-Blanco, Deputy Director General for External Relations and Commercial Affairs, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Arturo Relanzón, CNI Secretary General and by Francois Fischer, Director of PS.ICE have opened a very interactive, living and high quality exchange on Intelligence & Security topics of interest at the European level.  It has confirmed the excellent impression given on September 20 th by the presentation of the tutored final projects.

This “flagship” course, testament of the quality of the investment of all the attendees and of the teaching delivered by a selected group of Academics led by Isaac Martin Delgado and Juan-Luis Manfredi, will highly likely be reproduced. It fits perfectly in the ICE “EU line of effort” which also includes awareness courses in Collège de Bruges, actions as network associated partner of the European Defence & Security College (ESDC) but also dedicated ICE courses and Conferences in Brussels.

From the 9th to the 12th of September, the academics of the International Association for Intelligence Education (IAFIE) – European Chapter held their annual conference in Malta, which follows the Copenhagen conference (for more details, click here). Excellently organized by our colleagues at the University of Malta—special thanks to Mr. Joe Cannataci and Ms. Aitana Radu—it was a very impressive, interactive, and fruitful event.

The Intelligence College in Europe (ICE) participated actively in all the sessions and also organized, on the 12th of September, a special ICE Spotlight event (see photos) with the Director and five academic members or associates of the ICE Academic Network.

It was an excellent occasion to present the College, its outreach activities, and its publication efforts, and to foster interactions with the IAFIE members. Thanks to Professors Irena Chiru, Cristina Ivan, Iztok Prezelj, Artur Gruszczak, and Ruben Arcos, who presented the results of their research!

Most of their results will be accessible soon in scientific articles to be published in the next Special Edition on the European Intelligence Culture of the International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence (IJICI).

ICE is happy to announce that the next IAFIE Annual Conference has been announced by one of its most active academic network members, Dr. Ruben Arcos from Rey Juan Carlos University; it will take place in Madrid-Aranjuez. It will probably be an occasion to go one step further in the fruitful exchanges between the academics of IAFIE and ICE.

Read the director's Address
at the IAFIE Spotlight Event in Malta

SALAMANCA (SPAIN)

As part of the activities planned by the Spanish presidency of ICE in 2024, the CNI of Spain & its Academy organized the second “Academic Network Conference” between June 4th and 5th 2024 at the University of Salamanca.

This event, organized with the support of the University of Salamanca, took place in the historic Archbishop Fonseca College.

It mainly aimed at contributing to the consolidation of an operational academic network within the Intelligence College in Europe and to the presentation of research projects conducted in the Intelligence field in every member country, as well as at promoting collaboration among universities.

The research project of the Professor of the University of Cadiz, Antonio Diaz, was presented with the aim of testing European youth’s opinion on their Intelligence and Security Services. This is the first research project to be carried out collectively by ICE, with the active participation of universities of its academic network.

Six research papers were also presented by the representatives of Norway, Germany, Sweden, Slovenia, Romania and Denmark, and three working groups on Technology, Changing International Theatres and Intelligence Culture shared their conclusions with all participants.

This involves, inter alia, creating the optimum conditions to boost brainstorming between us. It is, therefore, essential to rely on a solid network, where common projects are undertaken and experiences and ideas are shared.

Universities must be the main driving force of these activities, both training activities, as well as activities to be closer to society.