Inside France's DGSE: The General Directorate for External Security

Since World War I, French military leaders have had an unfortunate tradition of using good intelligence information poorly. As a result, France has lost pivotal battles, colonies, and its high standing on the world stage. But when former French president François Mitterand learned about the Iraqi buildup of weapons in the Persian Gulf from an American admiral, France finally realized how weak its intelligence operations had become. By 1998, France had put itself back in the intelligence game with a state-of-the-art global spy system, dubbed “Frenchelon,” that provided it with vital military and civilian information.