Abstract While the US has revamped its intelligence community by creating the Department of Homeland Security, little seems to have happened at the European level. The article seeks to explain why some intelligence co-operation takes place within the EU and why the bulk does not. It uses a new model, the intelligence cube, to develop a discussion on co-operation in distinct areas. Following a functionalist approach, suggesting that collaboration is utility driven, it proposes that efficiency considerations offer the most convincing explanation why no new European Intelligence Agency has been created and why so little co-operation takes place within EU structures.