Directorate-General for External Security
| Direction générale de la Sécurité extérieure | |
Seal of the DGSE | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 27 November 1943 |
| Preceding agency | |
| Jurisdiction | Government of France |
| Headquarters | 141 Boulevard Mortier, Paris XX, France 48°52′28″N 2°24′24″E / 48.8744°N 2.4067°E |
| Motto | Partout où nécessité fait loi "Wherever necessity makes law" |
| Employees | 7,000 |
| Annual budget | €880 million (2021) |
| Minister responsible | |
| Agency executive |
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| Parent Ministry | Ministry of Armed Forces |
| Website | www |
The Directorate-General for External Security (French: Direction générale de la Sécurité extérieure, pronounced [diʁɛksjɔ̃ ʒeneʁal də la sekyʁite ɛksteʁjœʁ], DGSE) is France's foreign intelligence agency, equivalent to the British MI6 and the American CIA, established on 27 November 1943. The DGSE safeguards French national security through intelligence gathering and conducting paramilitary and counterintelligence operations abroad, as well as economic espionage. The service is currently headquartered in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, but construction has begun on a new headquarters at Fort Neuf de Vincennes, in Vincennes, on the eastern edge of Paris.
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 classified and not made public.
The DGSE follows a system which it refers to as LEDA. L stands for loyalty (loyauté), E stands for elevated standards (exigence), D stands for discretion (discrétion) and A stands for adaptability (adaptabilité). These characteristics are viewed as essential in managing intelligence work and in collaborating with agents, authorities and partners.