Security-as-service in the Management of European Border Data Infrastructures

Today, large-scale IT systems play a central role in the management of European borders. These systems not only support and enable the management of mobility but also require expert management as complex data infrastructures. Drawing on fieldwork carried out at the headquarters of the European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA), this article engages with growing calls to explore the politics of data infrastructure management. Focusing on the expert discourses and practices of eu-LISA, I show that, in line with a logic of service, it seeks to establish its legitimacy and authority as the manager of data infrastructures by sharing its expertise with its stakeholders. By attending to a logic of service, I show that the management of data infrastructures is neither exclusively depoliticising nor politicising; rather, it is often simultaneously both.