The Joint Situation Centre (JSC or SitCen) is an intelligence body of the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 (EU). It is part of the European External Action Service

European External Action Service

The European External Action Service is a European Union department that was established following the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon on 1 December 2009...

 (EEAS) and is under the authority of the EU's High Representative

High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy is the main co-ordinator and representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy within the European Union...

.

Role

The Situation Centre aims "to provide the Council with high quality information" on matters of public security

Public security

To meet the increasing challenges in the public security area, responsible public institutions and organisations can tap into their own intelligence to successfully address possible threats in advance...

, in the form of early warnings, assessment, services in case of emergency, and by constituting a contact between the High Representative and the intelligence community of the countries of the EU. The JSC also takes part in the Club de Berne

Club de Berne

The Club de Berne is an intelligence sharing forum between the intelligence services of the 27 states of the European Union , Norway and Switzerland, named after the city of Bern. It is an institution based on voluntary exchange of secrets, experience and views as well as discussing problems...

.

History

The Situation Centre has its roots in the European Security and Defence Policy

European Security and Defence Policy

The Common Security and Defence Policy , formerly known as the European Security and Defence Policy , is a major element of the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union and is the domain of EU policy covering defence and military aspects...

 of 1999, which put a group of analysts working on open source intelligence

Open source intelligence

Open-source intelligence is a form of intelligence collection management that involves finding, selecting, and acquiring information from publicly available sources and analyzing it to produce actionable intelligence...

 under the supervision of the then-High Representative Javier Solana

Javier Solana

Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga, KOGF is a Spanish physicist and Socialist politician. After serving in the Spanish government under Felipe González and Secretary General of NATO , he was appointed the European Union's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary...

. William Shapcott was the first head of SitCen, appointed in 2001. In the wake of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington of 11 September 2001, a sub-unit specialised in terrorism, the Counter-Terrorism Group (CTG), was founded.

In 2002, the Situation Centre started to be a forum for exchange of sensitive information between the services of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. While its initial mission focused on assessment of situations abroad, in June 2004, Solana expanded its domain of interest to terrorist threats within the EU.

Organisation

, the Situation Centre is divided into three units:

• the Civilian intelligence Cell (CIC), comprising civilian intelligence analysts working on political and counter-terrorism assessment;
• the General Operations Unit (GOU), providing 24-hour operational support, research and non-intelligence analysis;
• and the Communications Unit, handling communications security issues and running the council's communications centre (ComCen).

Staff amounts to a hundred people, based in Brussels in the Justus Lipsius building

Justus Lipsius building

The Justus Lipsius building is a building in Brussels that has been the headquarters of the Council of the European Union since 1995. Unlike the European Parliament, visiting is restricted...

 and in the Cortenberg, where the European Union Military Staff

European Union Military Staff

The European Union Military Staff is a department of the European Union , responsible for supervising operations within the realm of the Common Security and Defence Policy...

 is located. It cooperates with EU Military Staff and the Council to operated the European Union Satellite Centre

European Union Satellite Centre

The European Union Satellite Centre is an agency of the European Union's Council of Ministers which gathers information through satellite images....

, which provides satellite imagery and analysis .