‘Not the most brilliant minds’ Macron humiliated as French intelligence blindsided
Marine Le Pen blames Macron for dependency on Russian oil
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info
Last week, France’s intelligence chief, General Eric Vidaud, was forced to step down over his failure to predict Russia’s attack on Ukraine. According to reports, he was blamed for “inadequate briefings” and a “lack of mastery of subjects”.
Eric Vidaud had led the military intelligence agency for seven months but sources told the l’Opinion newspaper and other media that the army had judged his briefings “insufficient” and he lacked “mastery of the subjects”.
This was, however, not the only failure of France’s intelligence services, which some critics say lacks “brilliant minds”.
Speaking of the French Directorate of Military Intelligence (DRM), Pierre Brochand, a former Directorate General for External Security (DGSE) boss, told Politico: “They had expertise in the Sahel, and less on what happened in Ukraine and Belarus.
“I believe that Vidaud is a scapegoat.”
He added that the DRM is a “weak service … that has never really worked well”.
He continued: “They don’t attract the most brilliant minds because of a lack of resources and organisation.”
Christian Cambon, a French senator of the conservative opposition Les Républicains party said there will be an inquiry on Vidaud’s departure.
He said: “The personality issues are not the problem.
“What we want to know is whether the military intelligence is at the level we, in France, expect it to be.”
“The AUKUS affair … we can’t say that we saw it coming,” said Cambon.
“In Mali, the coup inside the coup … we did not really see that coming either.”
Eric Denécé, director of the French Center for Intelligence Research think tank was even more frank about the DRM and the departed General.
He said: “From what people told me, Vidaud wasn’t a good fit, and it was not his thing.
“There’s not a great culture of intelligence in the French army.
“There aren’t so many officials who have that in their blood.”
The chief of staff of France’s armed forces, Thierry Burkhard, had told Le Monde this month that French intelligence had, unlike their US counterpart, failed to predict Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
DON’T MISS:
Macron humiliated as France ‘fails to steal London’s financial crown’ [INSIGHT]
Macron slap was tipped to be ‘talked about for entire campaign’ [VIDEO]
Le Pen blasts Macron and Germany for dependency on Russia energy [REACTION]
Mr Burkhard told Le Monde: “The Americans said the Russians were going to attack, they were right. Our services rather thought that invading Ukraine would have a monstrous cost and that the Russians had other options.”
L’Opinion said Vidaud was told that he would have to leave his post in the summer because of the misses over Ukraine and that he decided to step down immediately.
Commenting on the news, former UK Brexit minister Lord David Frost said: “Good for the French.
“Maybe there should be similar consequences for those in UK & US systems who last year predicted the Afghan government could hold its own against the Taliban, & thereby generated the chaos of the Kabul evacuation.”
Vidaud’s failure came as an even bigger embarrassment for Emmanuel Macron and his government as the French leader had held multiple phone calls with the Russian President in the days leading to the invasion.
Source: Read Full Article
