European integration in the field of internal security and border control is gathering pace. From the EU Counterterrorism agenda to Infrastructural Resilience, from Terrorism Financing Tracking to Frontex-managed border control, the initiatives in this domain are many and ambitious. Perhaps more than in other fields, the integration process in relation to internal security is marked by the important roles of secrecy and technology. Rather than an ordered process of the development of supranational competences, integration in relation to internal security agendas frequently develops pragmatically, on an ad-hoc basis, or through technological systems. For example, important modes of integration in the fields of countering radicalisation and securing cyberspace are being developed through technical interoperabilities and transgovernmnetal professional networks. As another example, the newly proposed terrorism financing tracking system came about through an ad-hoc, and partially secret, process of transatlantic negotiation.

This interdisciplinary panel addresses the role of secrecy and technology in European security integration. How do technology and database interoperability function as an effective mode of integration in border control and countering radicalisation? What role does secrecy and play in fostering security integration? How are secrecy and technology linked? What are the effects of secrecy and technology for processes of European transparency and accountability in governing? How does secrecy interrogate established understandings of European integration?