Read more about the article Intelligence Sharing in the EU: Legal Implications and the Role of the European Union Military Staff
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Intelligence Sharing in the EU: Legal Implications and the Role of the European Union Military Staff

The term intelligence refers to the process of collecting, analysing, evaluating, and presenting information to decision-makers to prevent tactical or strategic disruptions (Şeniz, 2015). Specifically, military intelligence is a component of intelligence with its own rules, procedures and intelligence tools. It refers to military threats, armed violence and military operations involving States and non-state actors in traditional armed conflicts as well as in asymmetric warfare. Intelligence has long been part of tactical and operational command and control in order to reduce the uncertainties of the battlefield, which Carl von Clausewitz referred to as the “fog of war”, and to assist military decision-makers in making effective decisions. Intelligence was initially conceived to provide information and analysis to assist the commander in making more effective decisions during conflicts (Rolington, 2013). Nowadays, military intelligence aims to study potential or actual adversaries and identify the risks or dangers in operational areas. Primarily, it aims to support the chain of command at strategic, operational and tactical levels, involving both political institutions and military staff. Military intelligence in the EU is linked to the Common Defence and Security Policy (CSDP) and reflects the ideological construction of the EU’s identity and international action (Gruszczak, 2023).

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29 July 2024
Read more about the article The Combined Space Operations Initiative: an Opportunity for European States?
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The Combined Space Operations Initiative: an Opportunity for European States?

Space is increasingly considered an operational domain relevant to states’ security, not only because space capabilities benefit multiple economic sectors, thus making space highly strategic, but because some countries have developed a wide range of counter-space technologies (NATO, 2024). Accordingly, national armies have begun urging the development of militarily-relevant space capabilities and the activation of international cooperation over such issue. In fact, the improvement of dual-use, potentially offensive, space technologies evolved as a much faster pace than the elaboration of international space law aiming at regulating the use of space. The Combined Space Operations Initiative (CSpO), involving US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, New Zealand, Italy, Japan and Norway, is one of the multilateral efforts to face the challenge of a militarised space domain, gathering an ever-increasing amount of spacefaring nations. However, this US-ed cooperation is not unproblematic, both because of some policy inconsistencies that limit the US capability of sharing information on space matters, and because of the inhibitory effect that reliance on the US for space security has on some parts of the European space industry and on EU strategic autonomy.

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24 June 2024
Read more about the article Vietnam has Upgraded Ties with the United States to a ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’.
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Vietnam has Upgraded Ties with the United States to a ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’.

The US-Vietnam relationship has entered a new diplomatic phase. Ties between both countries greatly strengthened following the G20 Summit in New Delhi, as the US President Joseph Biden was received in Hanoi by Nguyen Phu Trong, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee (The White House, 2023). During the summit, both leaders agreed to upgrade the US-Vietnam relationship to the status of a ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’ (CSP) (Tatarski, 2023). As proclaimed jointly by the two leaders, this new status contributes to peace, cooperation, and prosperity (The White House, 2023).

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18 October 2023
Read more about the article North Korea’s Military Demonstration: Strategic Cruise Missile Test Amid US-South Korea Drills.
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North Korea’s Military Demonstration: Strategic Cruise Missile Test Amid US-South Korea Drills.

On 21 August, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw a test-firing of strategic cruise missiles from a navy ship, as the state media agency Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. This event coincided with the annual joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea (Reuters, 2023). Known as the ‘Ulchi Freedom Shield’, these drills are primarily computer-simulated command post exercises designed to enhance coordination and readiness in responding to potential security threats (Kim, 2023).

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23 August 2023
Read more about the article Cybersecurity: Is NATO Doing Enough
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Cybersecurity: Is NATO Doing Enough

Cyberspace has become the fifth battle space in an increasingly complex security landscape, and cyber threats have been part of the international security arena. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) has tackled cyber threats for over a decade. NATO’s awareness towards cyber threats started rising in the late 1990s, following cyber-attacks by Serbian hackers against NATO Supreme Command’s (SHAPE) website during the bombing campaign on Serbian positions as part of the response to the violence in Kosovo* in 1999. The cyber-attacks against Estonia in 2007 and in the context of the conflict in Georgia in 2008 urged the Alliance to take these new threats seriously. NATO is today the most advanced international organisation regarding cyber defence.

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5 January 2023