how the French services hold their rank in the wars of the shadows

When the Snowden affair broke out in 2013, worldwide shock gave way to concern, then to anger. The United States, thanks to its big ears, listened to everything and everyone to defend its strategic and economic interests. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Laurent Fabius, was surprised then, with great naivety, that we could spy on each other among allies. More than thirty years earlier, the France of a newly elected François Mitterrand in 1981 had immediately informed US President Ronald Reagan of the miraculous recruitment of a KGB agent, Vladimir Vetrov, code name “Farewell”, on the other hand – French espionage. The information provided by this source made it possible to reveal the extent of the plundering of industrial technologies by the Soviet Union since its creation. Naive again.

Just like when was revealed by a Scottish journalist, in 1988, the existence of the Echelon network, set up by agreements sealed from 1945 between the United States and their privileged allies, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and United, the famous “Five Eyes”, to intercept the communications of their enemies, as well as their “friends”. Always naive.

During the Second World War, the British, well helped by the French secret services, obtained essential information thanks to the decryption of the Nazi Enigma machines. However, they were careful not to communicate to the Soviets all the secrets of the interceptions. But Stalin got them from his undercover agents at the heart of British espionage, led by Kim Philby.

Recruitment all over the place

In the world of intelligence, there are no friends: there are partners, one-day allies who may turn out to be adversaries in other circumstances. In the war in Ukraine, it’s a safe bet that the secret services of all the countries involved are acting behind the scenes; the decoding of the twists by the historians will come later. Just like the mysterious Chinese balloons or the deadly epidemic that is killing the Russian oligarchs. All powers, from ancient tribes to large corporations, including states, need to anticipate their decisions by obtaining information, whether legally or not.

Modern technological means have multiplied the collection of intelligence and made its analysis more complex, but legitimate violence and its “license to kill”, which are in principle the monopoly of States, remain a weapon for the secret services of the whole world. Rising budget, all-round recruitment: the French services, faced with the changing evolution of terrorist, state and cyber threats, and faced with geopolitical uncertainty, are doing everything to try to adapt and maintain their rank in wars shade.