We are a unique service
We act in utmost secrecy to defend the vital interests of our nation.
We are the DGSE, the French secret service.
Attached to the ministry of the Armed Forces, we contribute to sovereignty.
Our mission is to collect intelligence all over the world in order to inform the highest government authorities.
Our 7,200 agents work in the shadows, to identify and anticipate the threats of all kinds. From counterterrorism to cyberdefence, they act to protect France and French nationals.
Our job is to obtain protected information, which cannot be accessed directly. We collect items of information, we corroborate and analyze them, in order to obtain strategic intelligence.
We forward to the government several thousand notes a year, in order to produce support in its decision-making and allow it to act with full sovereignty.
We have, outside our borders, our own capacity for action and disruption.
One of our strengths is that we master all methods of data collection. We derive our intelligence from our large-scale technical means, from the operations we conduct on the ground, from our network of human sources, and from our cooperation with other services. These four channels intersect and complement one another at the very heart of the DGSE. This feature provides us with high responsiveness and gives us the possibility to lead combined actions.
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Bring reliable intelligence to the government in order to shed light on its action.
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Detect and block, outside the national territory, the threats targeting France and the French nationals.
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Promote and protect national interests abroad at the political, economic and security levels.
We are here to explore the hidden side of issues and to provide political authorities with the best possible understanding of the situations they have to deal with.
Our Director General
Born in 1978, Nicolas LERNER is a graduate of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris and a former student of the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA). He joined the General Secretariat of the Ministry of the Interior before becoming chief of staff to the Prefect of Hérault (2006 to 2008). He then served as chief of staff to the Paris Police Commissioner. After a year as sub-prefect in the city of Béziers, he went on to hold the position of coordinator for security in South Corsica from 2015 to 2017. In 2018, he became Deputy Director of the Interior Ministry Cabinet before being appointed Director General of Internal Security. Since January, 9th 2024, Nicolas Lerner is Director General of External Security.
Our Director General defines the strategy of the DGSE, in line with the guidelines he receives from the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the ministry of the Armed Forces and some other members of the Government.
He steers and coordinates the action of the various components of the DGSE:
They are in charge of searching and exploiting intelligence. To this end, they drive all the human, technical and operational means of the DGSE and disseminate intelligence of interest to the government authorities.
It is in charge of developing the HUMINT and operational capacities of the DGSE. It implements, at anytime and anywhere the relevant operational means to carry out the missions assigned.
It is responsible for developing the technical intelligence and engineering capabilities of the DGSE. It relies on innovative infrastructures, advanced technologies and on a very high computing power. Its resources enable it to intercept data, decrypt them but also to provide technical support to operations. It also takes part in the development of national cyber capabilities.
In charge of the DGSE’s administrative support, it is responsible for human and financial resources, for the organization of training sessions and also for the DGSE’s real estate strategy (construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of the real estate stock). It provides logistical support to all the DGSE’s components.
It is responsible for missions of coordination, overview and assistance to the strategic steering of the DGSE. It ensures the quality and the relevance of the intelligence disseminated to the national authorities. It also ensures consistency in the relations with national and foreign partners of the DGSE. Finally, it is in charge, in conjunction with the mission centres and the directorates, of anticipation and foresight.
In 2022, the DGSE was overhauled to adapt to the changes in the operational environment and to the threats France will be faced with in the coming years. Our new operating mode promotes agility and responsiveness, which are vital for defending the interests of France.
Our operation and our organization are set out in detail in the decree of July 13, 2022.