Directorate-General for External Security

Directorate-General for External Security
Direction générale de la Sécurité extérieure
Partout où nécessité fait loi
("Wherever necessity makes law")
Agency overview
Formed2 April 1982; 42 years ago (1982-04-02)
Preceding agency
JurisdictionGovernment of France
Headquarters141 Boulevard Mortier, Paris XX, France
48°52′28″N 2°24′24″E / 48.8744°N 2.4067°E / 48.8744; 2.4067
Employees7000 [1]
Annual budget€880 Million (2021)[2]
Minister responsible
Agency executive
  • Nicolas Lerner, Director
Parent agencyMinistry of Armed Forces
Websitewww.dgse.gouv.fr
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The Directorate-General for External Security (French: Direction générale de la Sécurité extérieure, DGSE) is France's foreign intelligence agency, equivalent to the British MI6 and the American CIA, established on 2 April 1982.[3] The DGSE safeguards French national security through intelligence gathering and conducting paramilitary and counterintelligence operations abroad, as well as economic espionage.[4] It is headquartered in the 20th arrondissement of Paris.[5]

The DGSE operates under the direction of the French Ministry of Armed Forces and works alongside its domestic counterpart, the DGSI (General Directorate for Internal Security). As with most other intelligence agencies, details of its operations and organization are highly classified and not made public.[6]

The DGSE follows a system which it refers to as LEDA. L for loyalty (loyauté), E for expectations (exigence), D for discretion (discrétion) and A for adaptation (adaptabilité). These are essential components of activities related to ethics and the management of intelligence work and in collaboration with agents, authorities and partners.[7]

  1. ^ An article on the french newspaper Le Point | View on Le Point website
  2. ^ "La DGSE (renseignement) renforce ses moyens face à la montée des dangers". Capital.fr (in French). 18 January 2021. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  3. ^ Aleksander Olech, French and Polish fight against terrorism, Poznan 2022, p. 70; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/359135918_French_and_Polish_fight_against_terrorism
  4. ^ Zachary Keck, "Robert Gates: Most Countries Conduct Economic Espionage" (The Diplomat, 23 May 2014).
  5. ^ "Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure (DGSE)" (Archive). Service-public.fr (French government). Retrieved on 31 January 2014. "141, boulevard Mortier 75020 Paris"
  6. ^ DGS. 2009. Retrieved 5 October 2009. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  7. ^ Aleksander Olech, French and Polish fight against terrorism, Poznan 2022, p. 71; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/359135918_French_and_Polish_fight_against_terrorism