- Sep 26, 2020
- 1,089
| TYPE | Infrastructure |
| COUNTRY | France |
| PROJECT | Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE) |
| PROJECT COST | 1,000,000,000.00 |
| COMPLETION DATE | 17/03/2022 |
| PROJECT INFORMATION | Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE) The General Directorate for External Security is France's foreign intelligence agency, equivalent to the British MI6 and the American CIA. The DGSE safeguards French national security through intelligence gathering and conducting paramilitary and counterintelligence operations abroad, as well as economic espionage. 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. In 2000, it will employ approx. 7,000 agents both civilian and military. The DGSE will act as an early warning system to alert the French government to threats to French interests from abroad. It depends heavily on wiretapping and electronic surveillance of international communications. It collects and evaluates information on a variety of areas such as international non-state terrorism, weapons of mass destruction proliferation and illegal transfer of technology, organized crime, weapons and drug trafficking, money laundering, illegal migration and information warfare. The DGSE headquarters, codenamed CAT (Centre Administratif des Tourelles), are located at 141 Boulevard Mortier in the 20th 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. The DGSE has received additional premises located in front of the Piscine des Tourelles, and a new policy called "Privatization des Services" (Privatization of the Services) has been passed in the National Assembly. Roughly speaking, the Privatization of the Services serves the DGSE in creating on the French territory numerous private companies of varied sizes, each being used as cover activity for specialized intelligence cells and units. This policy allows to turn round the problem of heavily investing in the building of large and highly secured facilities, and also of public and parliamentary scrutinies. In addition to military surveillance equipment, the department will have a major focus on Information Technology. Huge server banks capable of storing Petabytes of classified information will be available to the DGSE. Technical hacking equipment used in breaking into encrypted networks will also be available to DGSE personnel. As well as Offensive IT hardware, the latest in defensive firewall technology will be used in order to keep the data stored on the DGSE servers from falling into unauthorized hands. These information technology offices will be secretly located underground at the Taverny Air Base, in the eastern Paris' suburb. The DGSE includes the following services: Directorate of Administration Directorate of Strategy Directorate of Intelligence Political intelligence service Security intelligence service Technical Directorate (Responsible for electronic intelligence and devices) Directorate of Operations Action Division (Responsible for clandestine operations) Various tasks and roles are generally appointed to the DGSE: Intelligence gathering HUMINT, internally called "ROHUM," which stands for Renseignement d'Origine Humaine (Intelligence of Human Origin), is carried on by a large network of agents and under-agents, contacts, and sources who are not directly and officially paid by the DGSE in a large majority of instances and by reason of secrecy, but by varied public services and private companies which are not all necessarily cover-ups by vocation however, and which thus cooperate through particular and unofficial agreements. But many under-agents, contacts and sources act out of patriotism and political/ideological motives, and they are not all aware to help an intelligence agency. SIGINT, (COMINT/SIGINT/ELINT), internally called "ROEM," which stands for Renseignement d'Origine Electromagnétique (Intelligence of Electromagnetic Origin), is carried on from France and from a network of COMINT stations overseas, each internally called Centre de Renseignement Électronique, CRE (Electronic Intelligence Center). And then two other names are used to name: smaller COMINT/SIGINT territorial or oversea stations, internally called Détachement Avancé de Transmission, CAT (Signal Detachment Overseas); and specifically ELINT and SIGINT stations indifferently located on the French soil and overseas, each called Centre de Télémesure Militaire, CTM (Military Telemetry Center). Special operations, such as missions behind enemy lines, exfiltrations otherwise called extraction, Coup d'état and revolution of palace and counter-revolutions (in African countries in particular since WWII), and sabotages and assassinations (on the French soil as abroad), with the help of the regiments of the Special Operations Command, COS. Counterintelligence on the French soil is not officially acknowledged by the DGSE, as this is officially part of the general mission of the General Directorate for Internal Security, DGSI, along with counter-terrorism in particular. But in reality, and for several reasons, the DGSE indeed since long is also carrying on counterintelligence missions on the French soil, which it more willingly calls "contre-ingérence" (counter-interference) in this case, and much "offensive counterintelligence" operations abroad. |
| PRIVATE / ENCRYPTED | Yes |
