
Towards a European Intelligence Community: A Visionary Discussion with Daniel Markic at IFRI
On the 22nd of January 2025, the newly appointed Head of the EU Civilian Intelligence Center (EU INTCEN) inaugurated this year’s joint IFRI and Intelligence College in Europe “Intelligence Cycle.”
The former Director-General of the Croatian Intelligence Service, Mr. Daniel Markic, discussed the opportunities and challenges “Towards a European Intelligence Community” in front of the regular audience of the IFRI Brown Bag Seminar.
His clear, strategic, and forward-looking speech, delivered in remarkably fluent French, was followed by precise questions from an engaged audience.
ICE Permanent Secretariat extends its gratitude to the EU INTCEN Director, who emphasized the importance of the existing EU intelligence and security framework, the demands placed on EU institutions, and the need to strengthen the intelligence and security culture in Brussels with the support of the Intelligence College in Europe.
For context, on the 23rd of October 2024, ICE and the EU’s strategic intelligence directors (both civilian, Mr. Markic, and military, General BAEV), united within the Single Intelligence Analysis Capacity (SIAC), signed an official cooperation agreement.

Intelligence College in Europe (ICE) Outreach Event: Intelligence Services and the European Union
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!

Berlin Conference of the (German) Intelligence Services
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.

Annual Conference of IAFIE - European Chapter in Malta
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


FIRST ICE ACADEMIC NETWORK OUTREACH ACTION IN BRUSSELS - Disinformation and National Security
On the 13th of May, the ICE Academic network has conducted its first ever outreach action in order to promote the work of four of its academics, who have just issued the “Routledge Handbook of Disinformation and National Security”.
The event, which has taken place within the Brussels headquarters of IRSEM (Institut de recherche stratégique de l'École militaire) Europe, the European branch of the French MoD Think Tank, has taken place in two moments:
- A high level roundtable on the theme “Disinformation and FIMI”, where one representative of NATO Public Diplomacy Division, of the French Service VIGINUM and of a Member State service have discussed on the topic before interacting under Chatham rules with a large, but selected audience of EU actors on Disinformation, FIMI and Security,
- a Spotlight event, with the three ICE co-editors of the Routledge Handbook on Disinformation and National Security,
Dr Ruben Arcos, Dr Irena Chiru & Dr Cristina Ivan, interacting mainly with European think-tankers.
These side-by-side events were open only under invitations and were targeting only known experts of the domain. This exclusive audience has been particularly active & reactive during the roundtable, which had to be extended from the planned one hour and a half to nearly two hours. The interest of the exchanges was such that a certain number of the first attendees have decided to stay to have the chance to interact with the scientific contributors of the first Routledge comprehensive scientific publication on the Disinformation topic.
This very first ICE Academic network action has allowed ICE to highlight and promote in Brussels the joint research effort of some of its Academics and to contribute to a common strategic culture in the Intelligence & Security domain.
This event, conducted just before the Second ICE Academic Conference, which will take place soon in Spain, will pave the way for another ICE academic event, end of this year, to mark the special edition of the International Journal for Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence (IJICI) on the Common European Strategic Intelligence culture.
The Intelligence College in Europe, which is celebrating this year its fifth anniversary, is proud, on top of its core training mission (making itself a sort of “Intel Erasmus”) and its security awareness actions, to be able to promote the joint efforts of the ICE Academics.

SEMINAR OF THE NATIONAL PENITENTIARY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE
Held at the Paris premises of the National School of Magistracy on November 2nd and 3rd, 2023, the seminar of the National Penitentiary Intelligence Service, under the activities of the Intelligence College in Europe, gathered over 150 guests. This included 30 representatives from European penitentiary intelligence services, representatives from all services of the French intelligence community, central offices fighting against organized crime, and the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (PNAT).
The approach to comparing the organizational models of penitentiary intelligence services in Europe led to the organization of the first seminar for European penitentiary intelligence services and was based on a comparative study of these models. The findings were further explored during various presentations, particularly regarding the institutional positioning of penitentiary intelligence services and their methods of information gathering and analysis.
This seminar provided an opportunity to address the current challenges in penitentiary intelligence regarding organization, doctrines, and practices. Six major themes were central to the discussions:
- Management of radicalized populations;
- The specifics of closed environments for implementing intelligence practices;
- Interservice cooperation between open and closed environments;
- Interactions between penitentiary intelligence and judicial authorities;
- European cooperation;
- The contributions of penitentiary intelligence services to understanding contemporary threats.
Exploring other models of penitentiary intelligence organization allowed the French National Penitentiary Intelligence Service (SNRP) to reflect on its own operations and share its expertise with European partners. The SNRP stands out as a unique model in Europe, both for its historical precedence and its resources and objectives. Following a series of events that compromised the security of its facilities in the early 2000s, such as the triple helicopter escape from the central prison of Moulins in July 2000, the mutiny at Clairvaux in February 2003, and the spectacular escape of the prisoner Ferrara after an armed commando attacked the Fresnes prison center in March 2003, the penitentiary administration was compelled to rethink its organization of security and intelligence. However, it was after the wave of attacks in 2015 that the creation of a genuine intelligence service within the Ministry of Justice and the Penitentiary Administration Directorate was initiated in 2017.
This institutional positioning highlights the uniqueness of a hybrid service that belongs both to the intelligence community and the penitentiary administration. The meeting of these two cultures, which mutually enrich each other, allows the SNRP to provide the penitentiary administration with new analytical capabilities regarding security phenomena occurring in detention. In turn, the integration of the SNRP into the intelligence community enhances public intelligence policy with new capabilities for collecting and analyzing national security issues contributed by the penitentiary administration. Thus, the SNRP contributes to the security of penitentiary establishments and, within the intelligence community, to anti-terrorism efforts, combating violent extremism, and policies against organized crime.
Two main models of penitentiary intelligence organization
At the end of the seminar and the study conducted, two institutional models of penitentiary intelligence organization were distinguished:
- The vast majority of European services only have penitentiary information collected by their associated penitentiary administration. In these cases, creating an Intelligence Service more so reflects the need for administrations to develop new analytical capabilities for security phenomena occurring in facilities, rather than the development of services with more secretive, even clandestine intelligence capabilities. In these institutional setups, it is the domestic intelligence services that conduct the most intrusive intelligence operations within the facilities;
- The comparison also highlighted a second model in which penitentiary intelligence services possess all the typical capabilities of an intelligence service: human sources, technical sources, cyber, and partnerships. In this model, exemplified by the French and British cases, penitentiary intelligence contributes equally to the policies carried out by intelligence communities, particularly in terms of counter-terrorism and combating organized crime. In this setup, the penitentiary intelligence service is fully integrated into the national intelligence community. It became evident during the seminar that most services relying primarily on penitentiary information are leaning towards this second model.
Penitentiary intelligence will remain a subject of study and exchange in Europe. An update of the initially shared questionnaire will be sent to members of the Intelligence College in Europe to deepen the understanding of various national experiences. A public strategic analysis note will contribute to academic studies on intelligence and increase the visibility of penitentiary intelligence to a broader audience.


PARIS DEFENCE AND STRATEGY FORUM (PDSF) 2024
ICE and the Paris Defence and Strategy Forum
On the 13th-14th of march 2024, the Paris Defence and Strategy Forum (PDSF) was held in Ecole militaire de Paris. This forum, organised by the French Defence University (ACADEM), is the first event of significant scope in France focused on defence and security, with a strong European focus. It brings together French and international civilian and military subject matter experts in different formats. On the fifth anniversary of ICE, it was the occasion to advertise the new achievements of the Intelligence College in Europe, as done in the past during the “La Fabrique Defense” event.
ICE presence and actions
ICE participated in the event, in three main ways:
- During the whole two days, thanks to a dedicated stand within the central agora. Well placed, it has been visited by a multitude of participants, among them, many experts and researchers, high-ranking military personnel from various parts of the world, including the Austrian Director of the EU Military Committee (EUMC), members of defence-related think tanks, security directors of public and private companies in the field of defence and security. Likewise, various French official cadres related to the issue of security were present, the most prominent being the French Minister of Defence himself.
- On the 13th of march, the Romanian Deputy Director of Intelligence, Mr Bizadea, has delivered, just after the former French minister in charge of the French Public Service (Mrs de Montchalin) one of the two keynote speeches kicking of the first roundtables on Human Resources entitled “War on talents”,
- On the 14th of march, the Director of PS.ICE has delivered the last keynote speech of the forum on “European Intelligence & Security, Challenges and opportunities”, describing first the specific EU set-up and, then digging in on the various challenges and opportunities to be tackled in the next future. This keynote speech, followed by a Q&A phase, has allowed to detail the need of a common intel-based strategic culture and the ICE role.
The forum was an excellent outreach opportunity for ICE as the college is reaching maturity, extending its impact in the academic domain and in Brussels, while intensifying its public relations actions.


Italian Award “A Thesis for National Security”. Conclusion of the fifth edition.

Thematic Seminar on “How to implement strategic issues in the intelligence work?”
