cover image The French Secret Services: From the Dreyfus Affair to the Gulf War

The French Secret Services: From the Dreyfus Affair to the Gulf War

Douglas Porch. Farrar Straus Giroux, $32.5 (623pp) ISBN 978-0-374-15853-8

This academic study of France's intelligence services traces the influence of intelligence estimates on French policy formulation and strategic decisions. Porch has pinned down an elusive subject (archival restrictions are severe), focusing on the political culture in which French intelligence has operated and the peculiar domination of foreign intelligence by the military: France is the only major power to place its foreign intelligence agency in its army. Citing the ill-preparedness of France in the two world wars, he sides with those who argue that the intelligence estimates were accurate but the politicians and generals failed to heed them. As to the future, he sees a need to consolidate resources and establish an intelligence network in France's Islamic community. This is a balanced assessment of the role and influence of the secret services in France by the author of The French Foreign Legion. Photos. (Aug.)