Cyber and Information Domain Coordination Centre (CIDCC)

The objective of this PESCOPermanent Structured Cooperation project is to develop, establish, and operate a multinational Cyber and Information Domain (CID) Coordination Centre (CIDCC) as a standing multinational military element for the European Union to exchange and analyse data and information gathered in the cyber and information domain.

What is the objective of this PESCOPermanent Structured Cooperation project?

The cyber and information domain is becoming increasingly important, also for the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDPCommon Security and Defence Policy ) of the European Union. For this reason, the project partners France, Netherlands and Hungary, together with Germany as project coordinator, are providing a Cyber and Information Domain Coordination Centre (CIDCC) to the EUEuropean Union. As an initial coordinating element, this PESCOPermanent Structured Cooperation project is to support EUEuropean Union-led military operations and missions by collecting and analysing data and information from the Cyber and Information Domain and ultimately feeding them into the military planning and decision-making process.

The project partners, together with other interested EUEuropean Union member states, will provide the required resources and information for initial operation of the CIDCC as of October 2023. The project shall be completed no later than 2026 and then transferred into an “EUEuropean Union CIDCC”. After the project phase the CIDCC can be developed further jointly.

Why do we need this PESCOPermanent Structured Cooperation project?

The Strategic Compass for Security and Defence, adopted by the EUEuropean Union in spring 2022, emphasises that cyberspace – in particular because of the growing dependence on digital technologies – has become a field for strategic competition. In a global and interconnected world, the EUEuropean Union must therefore also be able to act in the CID. The project partners had understood early on the relevance of the cyber and information domain as an area of military action, too, and have been working on the concept and the implementation of the CIDCC since November 2019. Russia’s attack on Ukraine and the major role cyberspace is playing in this war only highlight how important it is that Europe is also able to act on the digital battlefield. EUEuropean Union member states confirmed this requirement in the EUEuropean Union Concept on Cyber Defence for EUEuropean Union-led Military Operations and Missions, endorsed in May 2022. The concept calls for the creation of a military CIDCC capability for the EUEuropean Union and outlines its main tasks.

What is the CIDCC’s added value?

As an interface for the exchange of relevant information, the CIDCC establishes working relations to other EUEuropean Union agencies and similar national capability centres or key points of contact in the EUEuropean Union member states and compiles the information provided. In its capacity as an evaluation centre the CIDCC will produce its own analyses of the situation in cyberspace, and as advisory element will make concrete recommendations for the planning and conduct of military operations and missions. “Connect, Compound, Contribute” are the three buzzwords describing the core competences of the planned CIDCC.