TheGeneral Directorate for Internal Security (French:Direction générale de la Sécurité intérieure,pronounced[diʁɛksjɔ̃ʒeneʁaldəlasekyʁiteɛ̃teʁjœʁ],DGSI; also known as theDirectorate-General for Internal Security in English)[1] is a Frenchsecurity agency. It is charged withcounter-espionage,counter-terrorism, counteringcybercrime and surveillance of potentially threatening groups, organisations and social phenomena.
The DGSI is headed by General DirectorCéline Berthon [fr]. The agency is informally known as the "RG", a nickname formerly used for theDirection centrale des renseignements généraux which merged into it.
The DGSI performs among the others the following tasks:prevents and halts any action or interference from foreign entities; fights acts of terrorism or acts that threaten the security and sustainability of the state or undermine the integrity of the territory; participates in the surveillance of radicalised individuals and groups who may turn to violence and threaten national security; fights against international criminal organisations that may have an impact on national security. As Aleksander Olech, the DGSI is the only secret service in the French Republic to cooperate directly with judicial institutions (l’institution judiciaire).[3]
The fusion of theRG and theDST into theDirection centrale du renseignement intérieur (DCRI) was a wish held byNicolas Sarkozy when he was France's Minister of the Interior.[citation needed] The change was officially launched by the Council of Ministers on 20 June 2007, shortly after the election of Sarkozy as President. Minister of the InteriorMichèle Alliot-Marie,[4] however, was reputedly reluctant regarding this fusion and ordered the General Director of thePolice Nationale,Frédéric Péchenard, to undertake a study of the proposal.[5]
The creation of DCRI was announced on 13 September 2007 by Alliot-Marie. The founding texts of the DCRI were adopted 7 April 2008, to become effective 1 July 2008.[citation needed]
A fraction of the former functionaries of theRenseignement général (General Intelligence, RG) were brought in from the Sub-Direction of General Information (SDIG) from the Central Direction of Public Security, represented in the departments of metropolitan France and in its overseas territories by the departmental services of General Information, in the care of the departmental directorates of Public Security.[6]
Bernard Squarcini, director of DST, was named head of the DCRI in 2008.[7] He was assisted from the outset by two central adjunct directors, René Bailly, former functionary of the RG, and Patrick Calvar, former functionary of the DST. René Bailly then left the DCRI in the month of June 2009 to take leadership of the new direction of intelligence of the Paris police (DRPP),[citation needed] Patrick Calvar named director of intelligence of external security(DGSE) is replaced in his post at the beginning of 2010 by Frédéric Veaux, until then sub-director of theCentral Directorate of the Judicial Police.[citation needed]
One of the first media appearances of the new DCRI was the arrest of Julien Coupat in the context of the "Tarnac Affair".
In December 2008, the leadership of the DCRI made priority of surveilling an impending plot orchestrated by an Islamist in the region of Paris.[citation needed]
By a decree of 31 May 2012, Patrick Calvar, former adjunct operational director of the DCRI and director of intelligence at the DGSE since 2009, was named central director of interior intelligence, replacing Squarcini.[8][9][10]
Direction générale de la Sécurité intérieure (DGSI)
After the left-wingParti Socialiste (France) taking control of both the parliament and the presidency in the 2012presidential andlegislative elections, a reassessment the role of the DCRI was sought. In May 2013, abipartisan parliamentary report on the intelligence services was prepared by members of parliamentJean-Jacques Urvoas andPatrice Verchère.[11] The report was critical of the DCRI's functioning and particularly their failure to prevent theToulouse and Montauban shootings of March 2012. On 17 June 2012 Minister of the InteriorManuel Valls announced a reform of French domestic intelligence. This reform was made official by decree no. 2014-445 from 30 April 2014, which took effect on 12 May 2014. The DCRI became theDirection générale de la Sécurité intérieure (DGSI), no longer under the authority of the General Director of thePolice Nationale but reporting directly to the Minister of the Interior, giving it increased authority. The existing operatives and contractors (engineers, programmers, linguists) remained largely in place.[12][13][14] The recently installed head of the DCRIPatrick Calvar also continued in his function until 2017.[15]
In April 2013, the French Wikipedia article on themilitary radio station of Pierre-sur-Haute attracted attention after theDCRI attempted to have the article removed from theFrench Wikipedia. TheWikimedia Foundation asked the intelligence agency what precise parts of the article were a problem in the eyes of the intelligence agency. TheDCRI refused to give these details, and repeated its demand for total deletion of the article.
The Wikimedia Foundation refused to delete the article, and theDCRI pressured an administrator, threatening detention and prosecution,[16][17][18] of the French language Wikipedia and resident of France, into removing the article.[19]
According to a statement by the Wikimedia Foundation,
The DCRI summoned a Wikipedia volunteer in their offices on April 4th [2013]. This volunteer, which was one of those having access to the tools that allow the deletion of pages, was forced to delete the article while in the DCRI offices, on the understanding that he would have been held in custody and prosecuted if he did not comply. Under pressure, he had no other choice than to delete the article, despite explaining to the DCRI this is not how Wikipedia works. He warned the other sysops that trying to undelete the article would engage their responsibility before the law. This volunteer had no link with that article, having never edited it and not even knowing of its existence before entering the DCRI offices. He was chosen and summoned because he was easily identifiable, given his regular promotional actions of Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects in France.
Later, the article was restored by other Wikipedia contributors.[20][21][22][23] The French Ministry of the Interior toldAgence France-Presse that for the moment it did not wish to comment on the incident.[24]
^Emmanuel Jarry; Yves Clarisse."Enquête antiterroriste sur l'agression de policiers à Paris".Reuters (in French). Service France. Archived fromthe original on 6 June 2017. Retrieved10 September 2017.Cette enquête a été confiée à la section antiterroriste de la Brigade criminelle et à la Direction générale de la sécurité intérieure (DGSI), a-t-on annoncé de même source.
^Emmanuel Jarry; Yves Clarisse."Enquête antiterroriste sur l'agression de policiers à Paris".Reuters (in French). Service France. Archived fromthe original on 6 June 2017. Retrieved9 June 2017.Cette enquête a été confiée à la section antiterroriste de la Brigade criminelle et à la Direction générale de la sécurité intérieure (DGSI), a-t-on annoncé de même source.
