The French secret services - Douglas Porch

This text tells the story of the transition of France's spy networks of the "ancien regime" and Napolean into modern intelligence services. A leader in cryptoanalysis before and during the Great War, French intelligence could not save France from defeat in 1940. But de Gaulle would rely on his intelligence services both to negotiate with the Allies and to unify the Resistance. From 1945, fears of a Communist uprising, the colonial wars in Indochina and Algeria, and the premium that French politicians traditionally placed on domestic spies guaranteed a prominent role for the French services. The secret services also resorted to opium smuggling in Indochina and torture in Algeria, and were drawn into the "dirty tricks" of politicians, which continue to play a role in French political life today.;Ranging from diplomatic and military intelligence to covert operations and industrial espionage, this book explains the sometimes bizarre operations of French intelligence in the context of France's divided political culture and of her self-image as a world power.