Paris has had access to US surveillance in Syria and Iraq to monitor the communications of jihadists of the Islamic State. France remains dependent on the information gathered by the intelligence-sharing five English-speaking nations known as the “Five Eyes”, and particularly the United States.
Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the US are in an allied partnership that routinely exchanges intelligence.
The US satellite images of the Iraqi-Syrian zone, in particular are invaluable, even if the French intelligence services are praised by the Americans for their quality and efficiency, according to several diplomats.
Sharing information with the Five Eyes intelligence group, reflects a capability to gather and exchange high-value data, French Air Force Col. “Cyril”, member of the French DRM military intelligence agency, told DefenceNews. “Cyril” only gave his first name at the request of Air Force Gen. Jean-François Ferlet, head of the DRM.
“There was a realization that we have intelligence which counts,” he said during a briefing of a French defense journalists association this month. The DRM boasts a staff of some 2 500 members, mainly based at in Creil, north of Paris.
“Cyril” described France’s efforts to identify Iraqi militia working with Iran in a bid to destabilize the Syrian government, the subject of a mid-December meeting with US coalition allies.
Some French analysts with experience of detailed tracking were sent to a valley near the Iraq-Syria border, where individuals from Iran, Russia, Syria, Iraq and Arab nations, were present on the ground, he said. DRM units include specialists in imagery, signals and electronic intelligence.
“Cyril” is a high-level officer, serving as head of the J2 intel unit, part of the office for central planning and conduct of operations.
France is the eurozone’s second largest economy and cultural leader of the European project. In December, the French Ministry of the Armed Forces denied that France was preparing to join the Five Eyes coalition, as stated by Intelligence Online, an online publication on the world of intelligence.
This “fruitful” cooperation does not imply its integration in the circle of “Five Eyes”, argued the Ministry of the Armed Forces.
“France does not intend to integrate into this community,” the ministry told Reuters.
The revelations in 2013 of the former NSA consultant Edward Snowden on the illegal surveillance by the US National Security Agency had cast a harsh light on this highly confidential intel sharing circle.
Relying on documents released by Edward Snowden, the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung reported in November 2013 that France was engaged alongside the “Fives Eyes” in a vast surveillance programme codenamed “Luster”, but the information was neither denied nor confirmed.
France says bilateral cooperation prevails in the Sahel, and that the French have established a partnership – presented as “unique”, and “parallel” to “Five Eyes” – via the “Lafayette committee” set up in late 2015 to “fluidify” the exchange of information.
“The procedures and the technical means put in place now allow an intensive flow of exchanges at the highest levels of classification,” says the Ministry of the Armed Forces.
But Atmane Tazaghart, an Algerian terror analyst, says this will pose a major problem for the other European countries like Germany who are not part of the Five. “France cannot give information to the five about Germany or Belgium, or any of the countries they regularly come into contact with.”
He added: “This will become a serious issue in Europe.”