Allied Intelligence Chiefs discuss countering cyber-attacks, disinformation
The Heads of Allied Civil and Military, Intelligence and Security Organizations met at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on 29 November 2018 for talks on countering disinformation, cyber-attacks and traditional means of espionage. The conference was opened by Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, together with the Romanian Chair of NATO’s Civilian Intelligence Committee and the Canadian Chair of the Military Intelligence Committee. The Allied Intelligence officials endorsed the framework for the establishment of a NATO Intelligence Academy, and they discussed together with Partner services and the European Union about emerging technologies that have an impact on intelligence and also about NATO – EU cooperation.
“High quality intelligence and analysis are vital to the security of the Alliance”, NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Intelligence and Security, Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven, said after the meeting. “Today, we face challenges from a much more assertive Russia as well as from terrorism and instability in the Middle East. The role of the Intelligence Community is to assess those challenges and provide the best information and recommendations to the NATO’s North Atlantic Council.” Ambassador Loringhoven cited well documented attempts to manipulate elections, hack the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and spark a coup in Montenegro as recent examples of hybrid attacks.
Due to the deteriorating security environment after 2014, NATO has created a new Intelligence Division to better understand the threats to our security. The division does not collect its own intelligence, but assesses information provided by allied services.