Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure

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Logo of Frances's Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE) / General Directorate for External Security.
Logo of Frances's Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE) / General Directorate for External Security.

La Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE), or “General Directorate of External Security” is France’s external intelligence agency. It was formed on April 2, 1982 to replace the former Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage (SDECE). Its motto is Partout où nécessité fait loi (“In every place where necessity makes law”).

Electronic warfare site in Domme, Périgord
Electronic warfare site in Domme, Périgord

Contents

[edit] Organization

[edit] Official status

The DGSE was formed under the authority of the French ministry of defense, and made responsible for "searching and exploiting intelligence which is relevant to the security of France, as well as detecting and finding external espionage activities directed against French interests in order prevent their consequences".

[edit] Divisions

The DGSE includes the following services:

  • Directorate of Administration
  • Directorate of Strategy
  • Directorate of Intelligence
  • Technical Division - Responsible for electronic intelligence and devices
  • Operations Division - Responsible for clandestine operations
    • Action Division, part of the Operations Division

[edit] Action Division

The action division is responsible for planning and performing clandestine operations. It also fulfills other security-related operations such as the inspection of nuclear power plants (as it was revealed in Le Canard Enchaîné in 1990) and military buildings such as the submarine construction sites in Brest. The division's headquarters are located at the fort of Noisy-le-Sec.

The action division's directors were:

  • 1971-1976 : colonel André Devigny
  • 1976-1980 : colonel Gaigneron de Marolles
  • 1980-1982 : colonel (puis général) Georges Grillot
  • 1982 – Novembre 1984 : colonel Jean-Pol Desgrees du Lou
  • November 1984 - 1986 : colonel Jean-Claude Lesquier
  • 1986 – September 1987 : colonel (puis général de brigade) Jean Heinrich
  • September 1987 – December 1989 : colonel Pierre-Jacques Costedoat
  • December 1989 – ? : Christian Vie

The current action division originated from the SDECE's action service branch. At the time, the armed wing of the action service consisted of the 11th Shock Parachutist Battalion, which was created on November 1, 1946. It was then based at the fort of Montlouis and commanded by Paul Aussaresses. This unit later fused with the 12th Shock Parachutist Regiment from Calvi on October 1955, thus giving birth to the new 11th Shock Parachutist Demi-Brigade which was used in a large number of operations during the Algerian War.

The CINC (Centre d'Instruction des Nageurs de Combat) was created on April 16, 1956, as a part of the 11th Shock Regiment. In reality, this unit was made with the purpose of training DGSE's special operations troops for diving and underwater action.

The 11th Shock Regiment is later dissolved on December 3, 1963 following the end of the Algerian War. Its mission was partly transfered to the 13th Parachute Dragoon Regiment and partly to the 1st Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment, which were used against Marxist insurgents and guerillas in Africa. The action service, which was strongly reduced ever since the 11th Shock Regiment had been disbanded, was renewed and reorganized in 1971 under the direction of Alexandre de Marenches.

In 1981, the Action Service (Service Action) was renamed Action Division (Division Action). On April 4, 1982, the SDECE was renamed DGSE (Direction Générale de Sécurité Éxterieure). The Action Division rapidly becomes unpopular in the eyes of the Socialist Party with its failed counteractions in response to the Dakkar assassinations in 1983 and the sabotage of Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior on July 10, 1985. This leads to a number of reforms within the DGSE. On November 1, 1985, the 11th Shock Battalion was recreated under the name of 11th Shock Parachutist Regiment. The "11th Shock" was neither part of nor affiliated to the DGSE, but rather served as a reserve of specialists chosen individually for each mission.

The 11th Shock Regiment was finally dissolved in 1995. It has since been replaced by three centers: CPES in Cercottes, CIPS in Perpignan and CPEOM in Roscanvel. Today the DGSE relies on the 13th Parachute Dragoon Regiment (also known as the 13eme RDP) for covert operations, long range infiltration and intelligence gathering.

[edit] Installations

The DGSE headquarters, codenamed CAT (Centre Administratif des Tourelles), are located at 141 Boulevard Mortier in the XXe arrondissement in Paris, approximately 1 km northeast of the Père Lachaise Cemetery. The building is often referred to as La piscine ("the swimming pool") because of the nearby Piscine des Tourelles of the French Swimming Federation.

A project named "Fort 2000" was supposed to allow the DGSE headquarters to be moved to the fort of Noisy-le-Sec, where the Action Division was already stationed. However, the project was often disturbed and interrupted due to lacking funds, which were not granted until the 1994 and 1995 defense budgets. The allowed budget passed from 2 billion francs to one billion, and as the local workers and inhabitants started opposing the project, it was eventually canceled in 1996. The DGSE instead received additional premises located in front of the Piscine des Tourelles.

[edit] Size and importance

  • As of 2007 the DGSE employed a total of 4620 agents. In 1999, the DGSE was known for employing a total of 2700 civilians and 1300 Officers or Under Officers in its service.
  • It also benefits from an unknown number of voluntary correspondents both in France and abroad. These do not appear on the government's list of civil servants and are referred to with the title of "honorable correspondant" (honourable correspondent).
  • The DGSE is directly supervised by the Ministry of Defense.

[edit] Budget

The DGSE's budget is entirely official (it is however voted upon and accepted by the French parliament). It generally consists of about 270 millions euros, in addition to which are added special funds from the Prime Minister (often used in order to finance certain operations of the Action Division). How these special funds are spent has always been kept secret.

Some known yearly budgets include:

  • 1991: 0,9 billion francs
  • 1992: 1 billion francs
  • 1997: 1,36 billion francs
  • 1998: 1,29 billion francs
  • 2007: 450 million euros, plus 36 million in special funds

[edit] Directors

  • Pierre Marion, June 17, 1981 - November 10, 1982
  • Adm. Pierre Lacoste, November 10, 1982 - September 19, 1985
  • Gen. René Imbot, September 20, 1985 - December 1, 1987
  • Gen. François Mermet, December 2, 1987 - March 23, 1989
  • Claude Silberzahn, March 23, 1989 - June 7, 1993
  • Jacques Dewatre, June 7, 1993 - December 19, 1999
  • Jean-Claude Cousseran, December 19, 1999 - July 24, 2002
  • Pierre Brochand, July 24, 2002 -

[edit] Activities

[edit] Range

Various tasks and roles are generally appointed to the DGSE:

Counter-intelligence on French soil is not conducted by the DGSE but by the Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire (DST).

[edit] Known operations

  • In 1977 and 1980, Libyan soldiers acting as DGSE agents made attempts to depose Libyan leader Colonel Kadhafi
  • Working with the Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire (DST) in the early 1980s, exploited the source "Farewell", revealing the most extensive technological spy network uncovered in Europe and the United States to date. This network had allowed the Soviet Union to gather significant amounts of information about important technical advances in the West without the knowledge of Western intelligence agencies.
  • Exploited the network "Nicobar", which facilitated the sale by France to India of forty-three Mirage 2000 fighter jets and the acquisition of information about the type of the armour used on Soviet T-72 tanks
  • Operation Satanic, a mission aimed at preventing protests by Greenpeace against French nuclear testing in the Pacific through the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland, New Zealand on 10 July 1985. New Zealand Police uncovered the plot and arrested two DGSE agents who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of a journalist who drowned in the sinking, (and arson, for blowing up the ship). French relations with New Zealand were sorely strained and the incident had a major impact on New Zealand's foreign policy. Outside France, many considered the operation a terrorist attack.
  • A DGSE general heads the Alliance Base, a joint CTIC set up in Paris in cooperation with the CIA and others intelligence agencies. Alliance Base is known for having been involved in the arrest of Christian Ganczarski.
  • DGSE personnel were part of a team that arranged the release on June 12, 2005 of French journalist Florence Aubenas, held hostage for five months in Iraq.

[edit] Known agents

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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