| Directorate of Territorial Surveillance | |
|---|---|
| Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire | |
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | 1944 |
| Preceding agency | Surveillance du Territoire |
| Dissolved | 2008 |
| Superseding agency | Direction centrale du renseignement intérieur |
| Jurisdiction | Government of France |
| Headquarters | 7 rue Nélaton, Paris, France |
| Minister responsible | Michèle Alliot-Marie, Minister of the Interior |
| Agency executive | Bernard Squarcini, Director |
| Parent agency | French National Police |
The Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire (DST) (Directorate of Territorial Surveillance) was a directorate of the French National Police operating as a domestic intelligence agency. It was responsible for counterespionage, counterterrorism and more generally the security of France against foreign threats and interference. It was created in 1944 with its headquarters situated at 7 rue Nélaton in Paris. On 1 July 2008, it was merged with the Direction centrale des renseignements généraux into the new Direction centrale du renseignement intérieur.[1]
The DST Economic Security and Protection of National Assets department had units in the 22 regions of France to protect French technology. It operated for 20 years, not only on behalf of defense industry leaders, but also for pharmaceuticals, telecoms, the automobile industry, and all manufacturing and service sectors.
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According to a recently published book,[2] the DST has never been infiltrated by any foreign agency in all of its history.
During the Algerian War (1954–62), the agency created the Organization of the French Algerian Resistance (ORAF), a group of counter-terrorists whose mission was to carry out false flag terrorist attacks with the aim of quashing any hopes of political compromise.[3]
On 3 December 1973, agents of the DST, disguised as plumbers, were caught trying to install a spy microphone in the offices of the Canard Enchaîné newspaper. The resulting scandal forced Interior Minister Raymond Marcellin to leave the government.
Reporter Marie-Monique Robin, author of a book investigating relationship between the Algerian War and Operation Condor, said to L'Humanité newspaper that "[the] French have systematized a military technique in urban environments which would be copied and pasted to Latin American dictatorships."[4] Roger Trinquier's famous book on counter-insurgency had a very strong influence in South America. Robin was "shocked" to learn that the DST communicated to the Chilean DINA the name of the refugees who returned to Chile (Operation Retorno), all of whom were later killed.[4]
One of the greatest success of the DST was the recruitment of the Soviet KGB officer Vladimir Vetrov. Between the spring of 1981 and early 1982 he handed almost 4,000 secret documents over to the French, including the complete official list of 250 Line X KGB officers stationed under legal cover in embassies around the world, before being arrested in February 1982 and executed in 1983.
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