A new player in Security Research: the European Network of Law Enforcement Services (ENLETS)

Abstract:

A major source for fattening Europe’s emerging security-industrial complex is the EU security research programme (ESRP), which the European Commission will fund with €1.4bn until 2013. The early preparations for this programme were heavily influenced by a few European arms and high-tech industry giants such as BAE Systems, EADS, Thales and Finmeccanica, which were co-opted by a small community of policy makers interested in both Europe’s industrial competitiveness and arming European security and defence policy. However, public-private dialogues on the future direction of EU security research have opened the arena to agenda-setters with other backgrounds: academics and research institutions; companies maintaining major infrastructures; national interior ministries and key agencies for civil protection and policing. Police forces felt that they were underrepresented in these fora and were worried that their voice would not be heard among a cacophony of interests.

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