ABSTRACT
The conclusion reiterates the main findings of each chapter and addresses the stakes of Brexit for anti-terror intelligence cooperation. To understand the potential implications for anti-terror intelligence cooperation in a post Brexit world, the conclusions traces the trajectory of Brexit and argues that Brexit is caught in a history of regular negotiations of Britain’s relationship with the EU. It thus shows that British exits from, and re-entries to, the EU is a modality of the game incorporated into the history and trajectory of distinct interrelated fields. From this angle and building upon lessons from extensive fieldwork, it is suggested that state-led cooperation will survive regardless of the type of Brexit deal that will be reached mostly because it operates according to operational rather than political criteria and unfolds outside the remit of the EU’s provisions in terms of policy-making, legal rules and control. The stakes are higher for EU-led cooperation as this logic of cooperation has been constructed through EU-driven operational and legal instruments, although a straightforward rupture with Europol, although unlikely, might have only limited implications for anti-terror intelligence sharing between Europol and domestic services. Indeed, most of anti-terror intelligence communications is done through bilateral, state-led, liaison.
