User:SgaEtari/sandbox

Outline for “Counter Terrorism Group”


 * 1)       Lead Section
 * 2) Add – also called “Counter Terrorist Group” and “Counter-Terrorism Group.”
 * 3) Remove section about how many terrorists trained by Al Qaeda are in the world
 * 4) Clarify – the CTG is an informal intelligence-sharing group.
 * 5)   History– some information about this is integrated in the one section that currently exists, which I am calling the Lead Section, in absence of any other section.
 * 6) The CTG is extremely secretive, and little is known about it apart from pieces of information released by the various governments involved.
 * 7) Club of Berne – the CTG is an offshoot/initiative of the Club of Berne.
 * 8) The CTG is an offshoot of the Club of Berne, an intelligence-sharing initiative started in 1971 that is also composed of Heads of security and intelligence agencies in the European Union.
 * 9) Where the Club of Berne focused on a wide-variety of intelligence functions, including counterintelligence and counterespionage, the CTG focuses exclusively on terrorism, specifically Jihadist terrorism.
 * 10) It first met in 2001, after the September 11 attacks on the United States of America, to combat the threat of terrorism.
 * 11) The CTG did not have a permanent office or a formal structure until 2016, when an office was established at The Hague the group gained a more formal structure under the Dutch presidency.
 * 12) Before that, the CTG consulted with the EU on a case-by-case basis.
 * 13) The CTG's more structural approach to counter-terrorism, and its increased activity, were a response to the 2015 Paris attacks.
 * 14) Personal note: Insert link to Wikipedia article November 2015 Paris attacks.
 * 15)  Structure
 * 16) Move member states to this section. - The CTG is composed of members from all 28 countries in the European Union, and Norway and Switzerland. [Note: This article is cited already in the original article, but the link is broken]
 * 17) Add – Chair of CTG is member of group that belongs to the country that holds EU presidency.
 * 18) The CTG is chaired by the member of the group that belongs to the country that holds the EU presidency in any given year...
 * 19) ... position that rotates every six months, and is held by Romania as of January 1, 2019.
 * 20) The group is composed of Heads of Services, who focus on planning, and Heads of Units, who implement decisions.
 * 21) Add –number of meetings per year.
 * 22) The Heads of Service meet twice and year, and the Heads of Units meet four times a year or as needed to implement decisions.
 * 23) The CTG is described as a "parallel" intelligence-sharing network, where the intelligence agencies of the various member states participate on equal footing, rather than the group being a multi-level agency.
 * 24) This includes nations like Switzerland, which have an equal status to other members in spite of not being part of the European Union.
 * 25) The CTG enables member states to carry investigation across national borders.
 * 26)   Activities
 * 27) Move from lead section – information about intelligence exchange.
 * 28) During the 2016 Dutch presidency of the EU, CTG started a database to provide real-time tracking of suspected terrorists.
 * 29) The database was started in reaction to the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, when intelligence agency's realized that the suspected perpetrators of the attack had been on watch lists in other countries, but failure to share information had allowed them to carry out the attacks anyway.
 * 30) The database is designed to encourage intelligence agencies to share real-time information across borders and cross-reference with information shared by other agencies.
 * 31) The CTG provides expertise and threat assessments to intelligence agencies of countries in the EU, and works alongside Europol, though Europol is not a member of the CTG.
 * 32) Though also not a member of the CTG, the United States participates in information exchanges with the CTG.
 * 33) Criticism
 * 34) Add – some criticism because of its secrecy and lack of accountability.
 * 35) Because the CTG is not under the umbrella of any government and is very secretive about its activities, the group has been criticized as lacking accountability and legitimacy.
 * 36) Add – criticism for surveillance and intelligence sharing programs
 * 37) They have also been criticized for engaging in "mass surveillance" after it was reported that they had a "real-time database" set up to track suspected terrorists, with the program being compared to mass surveillance in the U.S.
 * 38) The bi-lateral structure and informal nature of the organization have also been criticized, with scholars saying that it prevents the CTG from being as effective at combating terrorism.
 * 39) The CTG and groups like it have been criticised as being harmful to Europol, a law enforcement agency made up of members of the European Union.
 * 40) Personal note: Add link to Europol Wikipedia article.
 * 41)  Future of the Organization
 * 42) The UK does not plan to leave the CTG after Brexit, according to the head of MI5, who cited the importance of intelligence sharing in the current climate.
 * 43) This is in spite of Prime Minister Theresa May's attempt to use intelligence-sharing as a bargaining chip in Brexit agreements.


 * 1) References.
 * 2) Bibliography