[Honk] FR $ec vs US $ec

"Most of those who spoke at the seminar identified the
U.S. as both the main adversary in the war and the best
model of how it is fought. This was especially the case
of Francois David, head of French export credit guarantee
agency COFACE who said the only response to the U.S.
'could be European' in scale.
Elsewhere, Remy Pautrat, deputy dead of France's
Secretariat General de la Defense Nationale (SGDN) paid
tribute to the French  president for signing a decree on
April 1 that gave birth to a Comite pour la Competitivite
et la Security Economique under the authority of the
French Prime Minister.  Pautrat said the Committee formed
"the nerve center of a more ambitious system" that was
currently being set up, partly in secret."

             FRANCE-the DST's New Defences
"During the seminar cited above DST chief Philippe Parant
reckoned that economic, scientific, and industrial
espionage had increased considerably over the past few
years.  It now accounted for 60% of cases that come to
the authorities' attention compared to 40% for political,
diplomatic, and military spying. Methods had also changed
because state-sponsored espionage had increasingly taken
a back seat to a type practices by private intelligence
companies, international audit firms, head-hunter
concerns, as well as insurance and reinsurance companies. 
Parant said that effective defence against the onslaught
could not come from government services alone.  "If that
were the case the game would be lost in advance," he 
declared.  He suggested that as many staff as possible in
big companies be made aware of business intelligence
concerns.  In addition he called for "genuine
information-management training in engineering
universities."  For maximum impact, he said, such
training should not be dispensed by security services but 
rather by specialists in each specific discipline."
L'Expansion Cover Story

With the above background in mind, we can now better
understand the cover story in L'Expansion of 10-18 July
1995. This prestigious journal, widely regarded as the
French equivalent of Forbes, Fortune, and Business Week,
appears to have been manipulated by French civilian
intelligence and self-promoting private sector business
intelligence activities.
The cover story of L'Expansion is nothing less than a
call to arms for the French business community, and the
opening declaration of war on the United States of
America.  Unfortunately, this article was very likely
drafted in active cooperation with French civilian
intelligence experts, and should be considered a "covert
media placement".

I have taken a personal interest in the article because
it links me with President William Clinton, Director of
Central Intelligence John Deutch, and the founder of
Kroll Associates, Jules Kroll.  I am honored.  Sadly, the
article, while identifying me as the apostle of open
source intelligence, is gravely in error when it
identifies me as the linch-pin for a new covert strategy
to undermine the French economy, and also alleges that 
I have been actively discouraged from implanting myself
in France by the French authorities.

There are three "realities" that need to be explored
here.  First, there is a budget battle going on in
France, and the French civilian intelligence services are
doing everything they can to "hype" the threat and obtain
increased manning and funding.  This should not surprise
us, but the apparent subversion of the previously
prestigious journal L'Expansion to the desires of French
civilian intelligence, is cause for concern.
Second, my sources in France tell me that the larger
French companies, especially those in the defense sector,
do not take this threat seriously because they are much
superior to U.S. companies at the business of industrial
espionage. A very well-informed source has suggested to
me that this cover story is the result of an alliance
between French civilian intelligence (attempting to
increase its budget) and General Pichot-Duclos of
INTELCO, who is attempting to increase his business
practice among the small businesses in France foolish
enough to believe in this exaggerated threat.
Finally, for the record, I wish to note that I was
invited to France by Mr. Francois Leotard, the Minister
of Defense, with the explicit approval of Prime Minister
Balladur, in order to join Admiral Pierre Lacoste,
General Jean Heinrich, and General Jeannou Lacaze in
speaking to a very select group of 300 French leaders
from government, industry, and the academy on 23 October
1993. We spoke about the need to reinvent intelligence
and significantly increase reliance on open sources. The
presentations that these distinguished flag officers and
I made have been published in a book called Defence and
Intelligence, available (in French) from Editions
L'Harmattan, 5-7, rue de l'Ecole-Polytechnique, 7500
5 Paris.
Robert D. Steele, Publisher
Open sources Solutions, Inc.
International Public Information Clearinghouse
11005 Langton Arms Court, Oakton, Virginia 22124-1807