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Who we are

CUTA is the independent Belgian centre of knowledge and expertise in charge of assessing the terrorist and extremist threat in Belgium and against Belgian citizens and interests abroad. Furthermore, CUTA is charged with the coordination of this approach. The service is under the aegis of the Minister of Justice and the Minister of the Interior.

CUTA is completely independent in the fulfilment of its remits. This independence ensures neutral and objective threat assessments.

Since October 2020, Gert Vercauteren is in charge of CUTA as director ad interim.

“Terrorism does not occur in a vacuum. It is often preceded by a process of polarisation and radicalisation. Alienation from our society makes individuals vulnerable to influence by extremist ideologies. That’s why the fight against violent extremism and terrorism begins first and foremost with a commitment to and for an inclusive society. We must prevent that societal problems turn into security issues.

Since the terrorist crisis of 2016, the services have learned a lot, inter alia, to benchmark with peers and to work together. This cooperation has since been structurally anchored in various consultation platforms. This is organised both nationally, regionally and locally, both from a repressive and preventive approach, with adapted tools to process and share information.

Download here the document with our mission, vision and values.

History in brief

CUTA has grown considerably in recent years. Not only in terms of personnel, also our remits and fields of competence have been significantly expanded. In the early years, CUTA primarily drew up threat assessments and analyses. Nowadays it does a lot more. Amongst other, CUTA is the coordinator of the Strategic Note Extremism and Terrorism (Strategy T.E.R.) and the operational manager of the Common Database Terrorism, Extremism, Radicalisation Process (CDB T.E.R.).

  • 1984 - 1984 – Founding of the Mixed Anti-Terrorism Group

    In the context of the terrorist threat, the Mixed Anti-Terrorism Group (Groupe Interforces antiterroristes in French) was set up in Belgium in 1984. At that time, the primary mission of the GIA was to collect and analyse intelligence in a coordinated way. This enabled the police services to take appropriate measures against terrorism in Belgium. The GIA was the first office for intelligence merging of its kind. The limited number of GIA partners and the fact they were not obliged to provide information, were obstacles to an efficient monitoring of the terrorist threat.

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  • 2006 - 2006 – Establishment of the Coordination Unit for Threat Assessment

    The Coordination Unit for Threat Assessment (CUTA) took over from the Mixed Anti-Terrorism Group  (GIA) in 2006. The basic remits of the GIA remained unchanged. CUTA draws up analyses and assessments based on the information and intelligence it receives from its partner services. An important difference with the GIA is that the partner services are now legally obliged to provide all relevant information and intelligence to CUTA.

Our partners

CUTA is under the aegis of the Ministers of Justice and the Interior and reports to the government through the National Security Council. The bodies supervising CUTA are the Standing Committee P (Supervisory Body of the Police Services), the Standing Committee I (Supervisory Body for the Intelligence Services) and the COC (Supervisory Body for Police Information). In addition, CUTA works closely with the National Crisis Centre, the Public Prosecutor’s Office and, of course, all its partners.

The last element in the chain is the contacts with partners abroad, with whom a smooth flow of information is also important.

Our support services determined by law

  • Integrated Police services
  • Belgian State Security (VSSE)
  • Military Intelligence Service (SGRS)
  • FPS Mobility & Transport
  • FPS Interior
    • Immigration Office
    • National Crisis Centre
  • FPS Foreign Affairs
  • FPS Finance
    • Customs & Excise
    • Treasury
  • FPS Justice
    • Department of Religions and Humanism
    • Directorate General for Prison Facilities

Our other partner services

  • Belgian Financial Intelligence Processing Unit (CTIF-CFI)
  • Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office
  • Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB)
  • Regions & Communities
  • Local Partners
    • municipalities, prevention & deradicalisation officers
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