SDECE (Service de documentation extérieure et de contre-espionnage)

History

According to the DGSE text, the SDECE was created in 1946, following a reorganisation of the services carried out in 1945 by Colonel Passy on General de Gaulle’s orders. It was a civilian service, separate from the military staff.¹

Until 1966 the SDECE reported directly to the President of the Council of Ministers (présidence du Conseil), and thereafter to the Minister of Defence. In 1982 it was renamed the DGSE.¹

Size and functions

According to the same text, in 1946 the SDECE had about 880 civilian staff, 600 military personnel and 750 contract staff – far fewer than its predecessor, the DGER, which had more than 10,000 people in 1944. The 1945 reorganisation involved, among other things, a drastic reduction in staff numbers.¹

From the outset the SDECE occupied the headquarters on boulevard Mortier in Paris, which the DGSE has kept.¹

The service was active during the wars in Indochina and Algeria; during the Cold War it gathered information on the Soviet bloc and maintained substantial resources in Africa.¹

Lineage

The SDECE was a link in the chain BCRA (1942) – DGSS (1943) – DGER (1944) – SDECE (1946) – DGSE (1982); for details see the DGSE entry. Counterintelligence on French territory was handled during this period by the DST, predecessor of the DGSI, created on 16 November 1944.^1,2

Cases and access to files

An example of access to files from this period: in the case of the disappearance of Mehdi Ben Barka, who according to a parliamentary question was detained in Paris on 25 October 1965, the Ministry of the Armed Forces replied in 2019 that it had declassified some documents on its own initiative and passed them to the judge as early as 1985, and that since the creation of the commission on national defence secrecy (CCSDN) investigating judges had submitted 11 declassification requests; several hundred documents had been handed over. The ministry does not comment on their content, as the investigation is ongoing.³

The ministry’s reply says nothing about the SDECE’s role in the case, so we do not describe it.³