About this episode

This episode explores the history and evolution of France's foreign intelligence service, the DGSE, highlighting its successes and failures.

The DGSE, or Directorate General for External Security, is France's foreign intelligence service. It's found inside the Ministry of Defense but reports to the president. It was established under that name in 1982, learning the hard way, through a string of high-profile blunders, how to conduct espionage. The service is responsible for all sources of intelligence and has benefited from a popular TV show about its inner workings. Drawing on documents never before available, Damien Van Puyvelde, the author of the book The DGSE: A Concise History of France's Foreign Intelligence Service, traces the agency's history from its early failures to its sweeping reforms and modern-day successes. Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit:  https://www.spymuseum.org/ And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic,  you can reach us by email at spycast@spymuseum.org. This show is brought to you by N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. This episode was produced by Flora Warshaw and the team at Goat…

People in this episode

Guest: Damien Van Puyvelde

Topics covered

• French intelligence
• espionage history
• DGSE reforms
• intelligence failures
• foreign security services

Keywords

• DGSE
• French intelligence
• espionage
• Damien Van Puyvelde
• intelligence history

Sponsors

N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: DGSE, Directorate General for External Security, Ministry of Defense, HUMINT, International Spy Museum

Books & works: The DGSE: A Concise History of France's Foreign Intelligence Service

Places: Washington, DC

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