A project “extraordinaire”notably through its budget (1.3 billion euros) praised the minister. Fort de Vincennes, located between the woods and the castle, outside the center of the capital, was officially designated in 2021.
In the presence of elected officials and current and former members of the “box”, Sébastien Lecornu welcomed a project “extraordinary in its mass, its scale, the budget involved and the exemplary nature of the construction”.
“Anyone who doesn’t know Mortier (the current headquarters, in the east of Paris) don’t understand what we’re doing here,” he explained, referring to the peoplee “40 buildings on either side of Boulevard Mortier”impossible to reform due to their dilapidation and cramped conditions.
The current barracks, which briefly became a prison during the Second World War, had housed the External Documentation and Counter-Espionage Service (SDECE), which became DGSE, in 1946. The locals experienced the Cold War, decolonization, the fall of the Wall, the emergence of China as a world power, and the war in Ukraine.
The future headquarters will be part of the topography of Fort de Vincennes, in the extension of the castle, with modern buildings designed to fit into the existing, around green spaces and with a vast and solemn parade ground in the axis of the site.
6,000 workstations
It will occupy an area of 20 hectares, for 130,000 square meters of floor space and 6,000 workstations.
In 2021, the ministry indicated that the DGSE would move in 2028. The company in charge of the work, Vinci Construction, is now committed to delivery in 2030 for a “operational commissioning in 2031”.
The minister, however, rejected any delay. “I understand that the calendar is kept”, he also indicated, repeating his message several times to Vinci officials present on the site.
“Since 2017, the DGSE has increased its workforce by more than 1,000 agents. Within the framework of the military programming law (LPM), it will again recruit 700 people by 2030. reminded journalists the general director of the service, Nicolas Lerner.
After decades of political disdain or indifference towards it, intelligence was recognized as a strategic function by the 2008 Defense White Paper, then made a national priority in 2017.
The trend could continue. For comparison, the British services have approximately twice as many agents as their French counterparts.
Related News :