Author(s): Benjamin OUDET
Publication name: Romanian Intelligence Studies Review
Publisher name: Mihai Viteazul National Intelligence Academy
Publication type: Journal article
Publication date: December 31, 2017
Pagination:
Issue/ Volume: 17-18/2017
DOI:
Abstract
In our contemporary security environment, intelligence cooperation is a
strategic and vital resource shaping French strategic stature. The Bill passed in July
2015 after Paris terrorist attacks (Loi renseignement du 24 Juillet 2015) stated that with
the protection of national interest, intelligence must support defence and diplomacy
policies. We argue in the paper that the development of French intelligence cooperation
is a response aiming at mitigating the uncertainty of the contemporary security
environment. Intelligence cooperation has become a natural extension of French
intelligence cycle and a means of influence. At the same time, we point out a paradox:
While French intelligence services are highly interconnected and involved in numerous
cooperation arrangements on a bilateral and multilateral basis, the lack of information
available and academic analysis, its history and the French Strategic stature of
“autonomy”, suggest that the French community remains “insular” (Rovner 2013). The
French intelligence community and especially its foreign intelligence services are among
the most secretive in Europe regarding cooperation arrangements, and the French
Intelligence Studies are still in a state of infancy. The French intelligence cooperation
should be investigated through intelligence cooperation studies, international relations
theories and the following criteria: 1. Strategic priorities and security environment; 2.
Established partnerships. 3. Capabilities. French services incentives to foster cooperation
are driven by the likelihood of a potential partner to share information or facilities, and
whether the partner shares strategic orientations and faces a common threat.
Keywords: Intelligence, practice, French, international intelligence cooperation
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