MAKS Research Seminar: EU Intelligence and Oversight

Event: EU Intelligence and Oversight

Date: Friday 15 May 2026

Time: 12:15 - 13:45

Venue: MKS414, MAKS Building

Prof. Dr Patrick Sensburg, University of Applied Sciences for Police & Public, Cologne

Speaker's Bio

Prof. Sensburg (born 1971) is a German law professor and former member of the German parliament, serving from 2009 to 2021. As a member of parliament, he notably chaired the NSA Inquiry Committee, the Committee on the Scrutiny of Elections, and the Subcommittee on European Law. He also served on the Parliamentary Oversight Panel for intelligence services, the Defence Committee, and, from 2021 to 2025, on the G10 Commission.

The G10 Commission’s main task is to decide on the necessity and admissibility of measures that restrict the privacy of correspondence, post, and telecommunications. Furthermore, its supervisory authority includes oversight of specific powers granted to intelligence services after the 9/11 attacks—initially for a limited period through various legislative amendments, and later indefinitely through the Act Removing Time Limits for the Provisions on Counter-Terrorism of 3 December 2020.

Since 2019, Sensburg has also served as President of the German Armed Forces Reservist Association, where he advocates strengthening national defence and reintroducing conscription.

Academically, he is a Professor of Public and European Law at the University of Applied Sciences for Police and Public Administration in Cologne. He also holds visiting professorships in Vienna and Bucharest and teaches at several military colleges. He is considered a leading expert on security law and intelligence oversight.

The European Union, with its area of freedom, security and justice, is becoming increasingly interconnected in the field of intelligence capabilities. This includes entities like the EU Intelligence and Situation Centre (INTCEN), the EU Military Staff (EUMS) Intelligence Directorate, the Single Intelligence Analysis Capacity (SIAC) a combined platform where INTCEN and EUMS-INT join data to produce a "360-degree" security picture, the EU Satellite Centre (SATCEN), up to Europol and Frontex. While Europol and Frontex are primarily law enforcement and border agencies, they maintain vast "Analysis Work Files" (AWFs) and intelligence-sharing networks for counter-terrorism and organised crime.

All this is also in the context of eu-LISA, which is the EU agency managing critical large-scale IT systems for border control and internal security. Headquartered in Tallinn, it operates SIS, VIS, and Eurodac. The agency is currently implementing interoperability solutions and new systems like ETIAS to modernise the Schengen Area's digital infrastructure.

Furthermore, as more and more services share their data with European databases, national rights may then be superseded by EU law and oversight has to be done by EU institutions.

Oversight is provided through multiple layers, including political oversight by the European Parliament (LIBE Committee), legal and fundamental rights oversight by the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), European Court of Auditors (ECA), and the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), judicial oversight by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), and inter-agency cooperation via the European Intelligence Oversight Network (EION). Future developments include the oversight requirements of the EU AI Act and the establishment of the Intelligence College in Europe (ICE).

With a second view, it becomes clear that oversight at the EU level is far from sufficient and that control is not being built up at the same pace as new competences. Political oversight by the European Parliament (LIBE Committee) can´t be compared with national oversight bodies that control the agencies directly.