Ref. Ares(2014)1366874 - 30/04/2014
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Date: 29.04.2014
JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE
Institute for the Protection and Security of the
Citizen
Global Security and Crisis Management Unit
.
Support to DG HOME in the field of Open Source Information
Interim Report 04/2014
Administrative Arrangement
Between
DG Home Affairs (DG HOME)
No. HOME/2011/ISEC/AA/002-A1, ABAC No 30-CE-0513429/00-84
and
Joint Research Centre (JRC)
JRC No. 32848
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EUROPEAN COMMISSION
JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE
Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen
Global Security and Crisis Management Unit
Title of Report or Deliverable: D9.3 Interim Report
JRC Author(s):
Classification: Limited
Type of report: Interim Report
Institutional Project: EMM Security (444)
Name
Date
Signature
Reviewed by
the Project
Leader
Reviewed by
the Action
Leader
Approved and
endorsed by
the HoU
Legal notice:
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The distribution of this document is limited to the persons given in the distribution list.
Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use which might be made
of the information contained in this document.
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Document History
Date Author
Comments
29.04.2014
Initial draft
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SUPPORT TO DG HOME IN THE FIELD
OF OPEN SOURCE INFORMATION........ 1
Interim Report 04/2014...............................................................................................
1
1 OVERVIEW ....................................................................................................................
5
2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY..............................................................................................
5
3 WORK PACKAGES OVERVIEW .................................................................................
5
3.1 Work Package 1: Deployment of EMM Server
.................................................... 5
3.2 Work Package 3.2: Deployment of OSINT Suite
................................................. 5
3.3 Work Package 3.3 EMM Technical System Support and Maintenance
............... 5
3.4 Work Package 3.4 EMM Operations support
....................................................... 5
3.5 Work Package 3.5 DG HOME Crisis Management Portal...................................
6
3.6 Work Package 3.6 Maintain operational status of MediSys
................................. 6
3.7 Work Package 3.7 Maintain operational status of the EAR platform
................... 6
3.8 Work Package 3.8 Maintain and update the CBRN categories and CBRN specific
sources recently included in MediSys
............................................................... 6
3.9 Work Package 3.9 Reporting
................................................................................ 6
3.10 Work Package 3.10 Project management
........................................................... 6
4 DELIVERABLES SUMMARY ......................................................................................
6
4
1 OVERVIEW
This document reports the progress of the work performed under the Administrative Arrangement
“Support to DG HOME in the field of Open Source Information”.
2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Project work has proceeded according to plan.
Both the EMM and OSINT software have been installed at DG HOME, with training material made
available as required. The customised EMM system is in operational use within the STAR facility,
with regularly updated categories, and daily products from the system are in use by the DG HOME
team.
An initial version of the crisis management portal has been developed and is hosted at the JRC.
Further developments of the portal are awaiting DG HOME input.
The remaining tasks covered by the AA are optional, subject to a request from DG HOME which
were made on 25th July 2013 (Ref. Ares(2013) 2755985). These tasks are: maintaining the
operational status of MediSys; maintaining the operational status of the EAR platform; and
updating the CBRN categories and sources included in MediSys.
3 WORK PACKAGES OVERVIEW
This chapter presents the work performed in each of the work packages. The full description of each
work package is contained in the Technical Annex.
3.1 Work Package 1: Deployment of EMM Server
Completed in reporting period 1.
3.2 Work Package 3.2: Deployment of OSINT Suite
Completed in reporting period 1.
3.3 Work Package 3.3 EMM Technical System Support and Maintenance
This work package is ongoing.
The EMM system at DG HOME has been kept up to date with the latest releases of EMM
NewsDesk, EMM NewsBrief and the EMM processing chain software including both
enhancements and bugfixes. The configuration of the servers has been updated to cope with the
increased load as more sources and categories have been added to the system. Further work
envisaged includes investigating the possibility of deploying a local translation server.
3.4 Work Package 3.4 EMM Operations support
This work package is ongoing.
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The EMM system at DG HOME is in operational use, with open source daily products supplied to
the DG HOME team. The categories and sources are regularly updated. Information products have
been well received within DG HOME, including by the director general.
3.5 Work Package 3.5 DG HOME Crisis Management Portal
The DG Home portal is intended to be used primarily by duty officers and should support them in
carrying out their duty tasks and in handing them over to the succeeding Duty Officer. The site must
be available on the internet and should behave correctly when accessed from mobile devices such as
smartphones and tablets.
Background
DG HOME Duty Function capacity was established in late 2008 and operates for both Crisis
Management (Argus) and Business Continuity (BC). It consists of:
- a function of "first contact point" for both Argus and BC crises. The Duty Officer shall
rapidly contact the responsible Senior Official (Argus Correspondent and/or BC
correspondent) to ensure efficient communication flow, both internally and between DG
HOME and other COM/EU Agencies and other actors. Duty Officer shall assist the
Argus/BCP correspondent.
- Argus (Director A) and Business Continuity (Director SRD) correspondents holding overall
responsibility for preparedness, implementation and management of the respective
mechanisms.
The Function is performed by a Network of about 15 AD Officials, who alternate for 1 week shift.
DG HOME Crisis management platform should assist Duty Officers in their activities, which
include:
- Monitoring: providing updated alert information to DG HOME Management (DG /
Assistant / Argus Correspondent / BCP / Unit A1)
- Acting as first contact point in DG HOME for ANY type of crisis situation (ARGUS, BCP,
IPCR)
- In case of ARGUS crisis (phase I): contribute to the exchange of information on the
ARGUS platform (https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/argus)
- In case of IPCR / Solidarity Clause activation: contribute to the exchange of information
(ISAA products) through the IPCR Web Platform (https://ipcr.consilium.europa.eu)
Expected services provided by Platform:
- Support for the monitoring of relevant security incidents/events (terrorism, external borders
and migration crisis, etc.) = through EMM + other media / open sources products
• EMM: the portal could include a section (like the ERCC portal) with a map and the
main and updated info from EMM (section "Terrorist attacks" and possibly
border/migration issues) ?
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• Other news reports: the portal could include various documents to be uploaded
(directly by DG HOME officers?) such as the EMM newsletter (produced here in
Brussels), or other relevant open source documents
- Repository of relevant information and guidelines (ARGUS + BCP handbook, IPCR
guidelines, ISAA information) = documents to be uploaded
- Links to Crisis platforms (ARGUS, NOAH, IPCR Webportal, ERCC Portal, SG IntraComm
Crisis management page, DG Home Webpage, Commissioner Webpage) = URL links to
be added
- Directory of key interlocutors: internal (DG HOME) and external (other Commission +
SGC + EEAS + Europol + Frontex Situation Center) = list and contact details of key
interlocutors (duty officers / managers)
- Templates for the production of reports (assistant to generate documents):
1. "Internal reports": End-of-duty reports + "Alerts" to management = sent by email to a
distribution list (DG HOME)
2. ARGUS reports: creation of templates for "flash reports" or "situation reports" to be
disseminated on the ARGUS platform (report could then be created in HTML / DOC /
PDF format)
Design
The basic website has been created and a responsive skin is being developed to allow the site to be
viewed correctly on different types of device. A menu structure is currently being worked on to
follow the suggestions given in a concept document provided by DG-Home.
Development
A new document module is currently under development which will fit better into the structure of
the DG Home portal as well as being faster, more flexible and better fitted for mobile devices.
The next phase will involve the incorporation of news items posted from the public EMM
processing chain which will be made available in the portal. Also here, work will have to be done to
present the data in a way which copes with different devices and screen sizes. It will be possible to
pin the items for future reference and for hand over to the next duty analyst.
Finally, the various different reports will have to be designed and developed.
3.6 Work Package 3.6 Maintain operational status of MediSys
This optional work package has not started, pending a request from DG HOME.
The public MedISys website (http://medisys.newsbrief.eu/) has been updated with a website design
in line with the Europe Media Monitor Newsbrief site. The new design made the former restricted
and Commission internal MedISys websites obsolete because all the menu items are now also
accessible via the public website. The processing chain is fully operational, with approx. 1.3 Million
news articles being processed per week. The second, internal processing chain of MedISys, which
was formerly used for the internal Commission MedISys website, is now being used exclusively for
the GHSAG EAR project.
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3.7 Work Package 3.7 Maintain operational status of the EAR platform
The new EAR developments funded by the DG Home Secure Zone project got underway this
March. During the previous year, a series of EAR project meetings have been held to decide on new
EAR functionalities to develop and a clear direction has been established.
Development
The first work to add new functionalities to the EAR project is now ongoing.
• A new skin has been developed which follows the ‘responsive design’ philosophy, to better
support different sized devices (PCs, tablets, smartphones)
• User profiles can be shared. This means that if a user sets up a profile focused on, for
example, the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, it can be used by other users
• Profiles can now be selected directly from the monitoring page, allowing greater control and
flexibility for the analyst.
• Media sources were added to the channel directory on user request; a list of blogs was added
in order to evaluate their usefulness for early alerting. New posts from the flutrackers
website are monitored on the EAR portal.
• New categories were added to EAR (e.g. Zikavirus, FIFA 2014) to further extend the scope
of the EAR platform.
Future
During the remaining time of the project, the follow tasks shall be carried out:
• Import platform for EAR
• Segmentation to allow the information on the platform to be shared in such a way as to
preserve the trusted network aspect. For example, discussions, comments and preliminary
risk assessments by analysts from the GHSAG countries should be visible only to them,
while the information on which they are based, and the reports which are produced, might
be shared widely.
• Surge-mode. When huge numbers of articles are being produced on a new incident, the
platform needs to be able to reduce the flow for that threat to manageable proportions so as
not to overwhelm the analyst team.
• Add more blogs to the system. US CDC is currently collecting a more extensive list of
(trusted or expert) blogs to be added as news sources to the channel directory.
Furthermore, the Global Health Security Initiative (GHSI) leading the EAR project is currently
working with the WHO on an EAR project proposal for its financing in 2015 and beyond, which
will include Interpol as a partner. Interpol has limited access to the EAR system at the moment. The
proposal will in the first instance be presented to the Global Partnership Program of the Canadian
Government for funding. In addition, the WHO, an observer in the EAR project, is considering
merging in the future the development of the EAR project with the WHO's health threat and risk
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assessment system, HDRAS. The GHSI EAR project participants agree that it would be a good idea
to merge the development and operation of the two projects into one in the future.
3.8 Work Package 3.8 Maintain and update the CBRN categories and CBRN specific sources
recently included in MediSys
This optional work package has not started, pending a request from DG HOME.
In MedISys, many categories for CBRN threats have been added upon request by DG SANCO and
GHSAG-EAR partners (chemical working group, nuclear working group). JRC expects to receive
more input from the GHSAG-EAR partners to extend the scope of the EAR platform to chemical
and nuclear threats.
3.9 Work Package 3.9 Reporting
Reporting tasks have been completed in line with the AA.
3.10 Work Package 3.10 Project management
Management tasks have been completed in line with the AA.
4 DELIVERABLES SUMMARY
Ref
Description
Due Date
Status
D1.1
Initial version of EMM server software
KO + 1m
Accepted
D1.2
Training materials on use of EMM through KO + 1m
Accepted
web client and NewsDesk
D2.1
Initial verision of OSINT Suite software
Accepted
D2.2
OSINT Suite training materials
Accepted
D3.1x
Updated EMM software modules, in particular When available
"early warning" modules
D4.1x
Updated category definitions
D4.2x
Open source daily products
D5.1
Initial version of "crisis management portal"
D6.1 Operational
MediSys
system
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D7.1 Operational
EAR
Portal
D8.1.x
CBRN category definitions
On request
D9.1
Inception report
Draft AA execution + Accepted
2 weeks
Final KO + 2 weeks
D9.2
First Interim Report
Draft AA execution + Accepted
8 months
Final 2 weeks after
comments on draft
D9.3
Second Interim Report
Draft AA execution + Draft
18 months
Final 2 weeks after
comments on draft
D9.4
Final Report
Draft AA execution +
28 months
Final 2 weeks after
comments on draft
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Document Outline