Spotlight | France
DGSE blues: French agency under fire from all sides

France, Lebanon
Emmanuel Macron to travel to Beirut Friday with diplomatic adviser

The French president is due to travel to the Lebanese capital on Friday 17 January with his diplomatic adviser Emmanuel Bonne, who tendered his resignation earlier this week. Macron managed to convince the former French ambassador to Lebanon to make the trip with him.

The Agencies' Gazette
DGSE's missing bigwig, SIS's white male problem, Beijing's Moscow capital curbs

Appointments, reforms and the issues at stake: every Monday, Intelligence Online serves up snippets big and small from the global intelligence community.

France Glaring no-show at Émié's DGSE leaving do

UK Despite the positive PR, SIS still overly white and male

China/Russia CCP checks Moscow money transfers

The Agencies' Gazette
DGSI number crunch, asset hunt in Kyiv, anti-disinformation in China, DGSE succession

Appointments, reforms and the issues at stake: every Monday, Intelligence Online serves up snippets big and small from the global intelligence community.

FranceFrench intelligence reports 92 external lawfare cases since 2020

UkraineKyiv adds muscle to asset recovery agency

ChinaCommunist Party asks universities to train anti-disinformation analysts

FranceA woman in the running for top DGSE job

France
DGSE recruitment drive hampered by security vetting procedures

France's external intelligence service has announced plans to recruit 800 new staff in 2023 but some candidates are being discouraged by its cumbersome recruitment procedures

France
DGSE launches legal action against second ex-spy over memoir

After several weeks' hesitation, the French external intelligence service has taken legal action against two former agents, whom it accuses of breaching official defence secrets in the books they have written about their experiences.

France, West Africa
Suneris's African contracts in turmoil

French cyber-intelligence firm Suneris has seen its customer states fall, one after the other, in the recent series of coups in Africa. Not only are its contracts at risk, but the confidentiality of its technologies could be breached.

Spotlight | France
France's DGSE thwarts parliamentary bid to impose tighter control over interceptions

France's interceptions watchdog, the CNCTR, will not have closer scrutiny of audio and video recordings made by the intelligence services, a planned move that has been axed from the country's military appropriations bill.

France
Macron set to revamp top diplomatic and security team

The French president is likely to reshuffle his top diplomatic and security team in the coming weeks, a move that will have to juggle major strategic issues with the career ambitions of his loyal lieutenants.

The Agencies' Gazette
Majed Faraj named minister, French intel uses Hebrew, Chinese democracy promoted, Chechen base in Kyiv

Appointments, reforms and the issues at stake: every Monday, Intelligence Online serves up snippets big and small from the global intelligence community from Ramallah to Paris via Beijing and Kyiv.

PalestineMahmoud Abbas confirms Majed Faraj's role as spymaster

FranceFrench intelligence doubles down on need for Hebrew

ChinaBeijing uses Chinese Academy of Social Sciences to promote its vision of democracy

UkraineChechen opposition faction grows stronger in Kyiv

France, Singapore
French external intelligence agency wants its South East Asia team in shipshape

Marc P.'s arrival in Singapore after six years serving as head of the DGSE's intelligence department should allow the service to ramp up its action in a highly strategic zone, one that it had largely ignored for years, as China places its pawns in South East Asia.

Spotlight | China, France, Japan, Singapore, United States
All eyes on DGSE's move into Indo-Pacific

The former head of French external intelligence agency, the DGSE, is opening an office in Singapore to help it expand its presence in the region. China is keeping a close watch, as are France's European and US allies.

Spotlight | France
DGSE reform: The DR is dead, long live the DR !

The reform of France's external intelligence service, the DGSE, which was published on 16 July, looks to have signed the death warrant of its intelligence department, Direction du Renseignement (DR). Former DR executives remain as influential as ever, however, in the new structure.