Security Committee

Role

The Security Committee examines and must be consulted on all matters concerning the protection of EU classified information. This includes EU rules and policies, agreements on exchanging classified information with third states and international organisations, and arrangements on sharing classified information across the EU family of institutions, bodies and agencies. The committee can, if necessary, make recommendations to the Council.

Composition and meetings

The Security Committee is composed of representatives from member states' national security authorities or other relevant authorities. The committee is chaired by a senior official of the General Secretariat of the Council (GSC). Representatives from the European Commission and the European External Action Service also attend its meetings.

There are five subcommittees and expert subgroups, all of which are chaired by the GSC.

• The subcommittee for Information Assurance (CSC-IA) develops policies and recommendations on the protection of EUCI in electronic form.
• The Appropriately Qualified Authorities (AQUA) Reference Group (ARG) deals with the use of cryptography for the protection of EUCI.
• The Implementation Tempest Task Force (ITTF) develops policies and guidelines aimed at preventing the compromise of classified information through unintentional electromagnetic emanations (also known as 'Telecommunications Electronics Material Protected from Emanating Spurious Transmissions', or TEMPEST).
• The Security Accreditation Board (SAB) is responsible for the security accreditation of communication and information systems used to handle or store EUCI.
• The Technical Surveillance Counter-Measures Expert Group (TSCM) focuses on technologies, techniques and tools to prevent, detect and neutralise eavesdropping of classified information, in particular audio and video information. 

The Security Committee meets every four to six weeks. Subcommittees and expert subgroups meet as needed.

Legal basis

The Security Committee was created by Council decision 2001/264/EC and is governed by the Council's current security rules on protecting EU classified information (Council decision 2013/488/EU).