EU may force MI5 and MI6 to share intelligence with the rest of Europe

EU may force MI5 and MI6 to share intelligence with the rest of Europe

www.telegraph.co.uk

Under the plans, seen by the Daily Telegraph, all countries would feed secret information into a central intelligence unit so that any member state can use it.

But the proposals risk hard won intelligence gathered by British agents being leaked by less scrupulous security services, particularly in the former Communist states of Eastern Europe.

Although the Government has contributed to the proposals being drawn up, Britain's security services are likely to put up stiff opposition to the plans.

Historically British intelligence officers have enjoyed a good relationship with their US counterparts, regularly exchanging information particularly in the fight against terrorism.

However, there has been a degree of mistrust between the British authorities and European security agencies. In the 1990s the French intelligence service was blamed for leaking information shared by MI6 to the Serbian military.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I know it's the Daily Telegraph, so it has to be taken with a pinch of salt over any EU stuff (since the Telegraph are very anti-Europe) and it may be scaremongering to a degree. However, I strongly disagree with this proposal.

The British security and intelligence agencies are amongst the best and most experienced in the world. Quite why our agents should be put at risk if the info that was shared was leaked is beyond me. In addition, this could jeopardise UK-US intelligence sharing, which would mean large black spots in both British and American intelligence. That is a very dangerous thing.

It seems to be a way of letting the UK pay for the intel services and take all the risks whilst other EU member states benefit from the fruits of our labours.

I'm not opposed to sharing data on a need-to-know/case-by-case basis, but dumping every piece of intelligence we've gathered into one melting pot is an inherently bad idea.

Besides, they'll finally have proof that we bug EU meetings! >.>

www.telegraph.co.uk (visit the link for the full news article)

I have to admit, the idea of any intelligence agencies being obliged to share information with a cluster of states that may themselves have been the targets of intelligence gathering is a precarious obligation at best.

It is not only about the safety and continuity of the intelligence community members themselves, it about trusting that the EU can as an entity control the information and its disposition. This is one of those aspects of a centralized union of states surrendering their sovereignty to a collection of corporatists bureaucrats who's loyalties do not equate to anything that benefits the community they are said to represent.

Businessmen should stay OUT of politics and diplomacy as they always seem to muck it up.

Hmm.

Made me raise an eyebrow.

The whole business of spooks is to be spooky Speaking from experience I can tell you that if they don't want someone to know something, they won't tell them.

So even if the EU wanted information, it would only be what the spooks wanted to release, and unless - for whatever reason - the spooks want them to know more, thats all they'll ever get to know

reply to post by Ste2652


The beauty of the intelligence service is the only information they want to release is released. They only have to share that which they disclose.

I'd take this with a grain of salt.