DST - Directorate of Territorial Security
Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire
Update 2008: On July 1, 2008, the DST was merged with the Direction centrale des renseignements généraux into the new Direction centrale du renseignement intérieur.
Created in 1944 to "struggle against activities of espionage and against the activities of alien powers on territories under French sovereignty" the Directorate for Territorial Surveillance has undergone from the end of 1970s, an important evolution linked to the two
phenomena:
- the transformation in espionage activities from solely the military sector to economic
domains, scientific and technical;
- the appearance and the diversification of the terrorist threat.
Since the Eastern Bloc opened up, the DST has redeployed its operatives, previously working on the Soviets, and assigned them to new threats, the Israelis and the Americans in particular. Since 1992, counterespionage noted that members of the CIA were "approaching" senior civil servants.
The DST presently is administered as an internal security agency whose essential function is to search for information for security and to follow the uncertain and diversified evolution of patterns of the threat. Its headquarters has been situated at 1 rue Nélaton in Paris, since July 1985. In late August 1997 the French government appointed Jean- Jacques Pascal to head
the DST. Pascal, who was in charge of the political intelligence unit -- the Renseignements Generaux -- between 1990 and 1992, took over from Philippe Parant who retired.
The detailed organization of the DST is covered by the secret defense classification. In general, schematically it includes:
- In Paris, on central administration divided into 5 Sub-Directorates (counterespionage, safety and protection of the patrimony, international terrorism, technical administration and general administration) and a special office of national relationships and international;
- In the provinces there are 7 regional Directorates, and several brigades and 4 posts installed in overseas terrritories.
The DST Economic Security and Protection of National Assets department has units in the 22 regions to protect French technology.. It has been operating for 20 years, not only on behalf of defense industry leaders, but also for pharmaceuticals, telecoms, the automobile industry, and all manufacturing and service sectors.
Sources and Methods
http://www.fas.org/irp/world/france/interieur/dst/
Created by John Pike
Maintained by Steven Aftergood
Updated January 25, 2004
