The free French secret services: Intelligence and the politics of republican legitimacy

Abstract

International audience ; The improvised nature of the French political and military entities established in London in 1940 makes the study of relations between the Free French military secret services and political leadership particularly delicate. After initially attempting to respect the traditional separation between military and political authority that had prevailed under the Third Republic, the role of the Free French secret services was progressively politicised by the exigencies of a clandestine war. Moreover, increasingly tense relations between certain leaders of the Resistance inside France and the leadership of the Gaullist secret services, along with preparations for the political reconstruction of France after the war, resulted in a war of successive decrees pertaining to the place of the intelligence services within the government hierarchy. The end result was that the secret services were placed under true direct civilian control. This marked a radical modification of the traditional system which had prevailed during the Third Republic. Free French leader Charles de Gaulle approved of this modification but never appeared to attach great importance to matters relating to the organisation and functioning of the intelligence services.