Directorate-General for External Security
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. The DGSE safeguards French national security through intelligence gathering and conducting paramilitary and counterintelligence operations abroad, as well as economic espionage. It is headquartered in the 20th arrondissement of Paris.
| Direction générale de la Sécurité extérieure | |
Partout où nécessité fait loi ("Wherever necessity makes law") | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 2 April 1982 |
| Preceding agency | |
| Jurisdiction | Government of France |
| Headquarters | 141 Boulevard Mortier, Paris XX, France 48.8744°N 2.4067°E |
| Employees | 7000 |
| Annual budget | €880 Million (2021) |
| Minister responsible | |
| Agency executive |
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| Parent agency | Ministry of Armed Forces |
| Website | www |
| Part of a series on |
| Global surveillance |
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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.
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.