EU PSA missions start through a request launched by an EU country. Since June 2021, also short-term peer review EU PSA missions are carried out at the invitation of a host authority to support with vulnerability assessments of high-risk facilities and infrastructures.
Reviews are confidential and conducted in close dialogue and partnership with national experts from the EU host authority (e.g. police officers or explosive experts). The discussions among experts provide an opportunity to exchange good practices and lessons learnt, improve awareness of vulnerabilities and contribute to the gradual development of a common security culture across the EU.
The EU PSA team consist of experts from different EU countries. Each team member can contribute with their knowledge of best practices and how they address vulnerabilities in their home country. Through such knowledge sharing, they support the host authority in security planning. Each EU PSA team consists of experts holding different qualification in areas such as:
- unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) operations
- explosive and CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear) threats detection
- special intervention and counter terrorism tactics
- crisis management
and other expertise areas.
EU PSA missions are offered as free expertise to EU countries, as all the travel of experts and other associated costs are covered by the European Commission. EU PSA Support is also available to public or private operators (theme parks, shopping malls, cultural events) that desire EU support when carrying out vulnerability assessments of their facilities.
How EU countries benefit from EU PSA Support
Depending on the request coming from an EU country, the EU PSA mission offers the following type of support:
- Pre-assessment - carry out a facility or event vulnerability assessment
- Event Security - offer advisory support with deployment of security measures at an infrastructure or during a high risk event
During a mission, the EU PSA team works jointly with national authorities and uses EU vulnerability assessment standards to analyse potential vulnerabilities and to give recommendations how to mitigate them.
The objectives of EU PSA support
- improve the understanding and awareness of vulnerabilities in public spaces and critical infrastructures by providing a common methodology for their assessment
- share good practices and encourage peer-to-peer learning to address identified vulnerabilities
- provide advice to EU countries in the organisation of high-risk events or facilities
- create an expert community through common trainings and missions, contributing to the development of a common EU protective security culture