This is an HTML version of an attachment to the Freedom of Information request 'Documents and statistics on the EMM Open Source Intelligence Suite'.



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 
1


 
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: 
The information contained in this document may not be disseminated, copied or utilised without the written authorization of the 
Commission. The Commission reserves specifically its rights to apply for patents or to obtain other protection for the matter open to 
intellectual or industrial protection. 
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.  
 
  
 
 
 
 
 


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 OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................... 
2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................. 
3 WORK PACKAGES OVERVIEW ................................................................................. 
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................................... 
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 ...................................................................................... 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 


 
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. 
  
 
 
 
 
 


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) ? 
  
 
 
 
 
 


•  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. 
  
 
 
 
 
 


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 
  
 
 
 
 
 


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 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 


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 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
10 

Document Outline