Bernard Squarcini

Bernard Squarcini is a French intelligence official and security consultant. He was born on 12 December 1955 in Rabat, Morocco. He was the youngest Inspector General of Police.

Bernard Squarcini
Born (1955-12-12) 12 December 1955
Rabat, Morocco
NationalityFrench
EducationAix-Marseille University
OccupationCivil servant
Known forHead of the General Directorate for Internal Security (2008-2012)

Bernard Squarcini was head of the French Direction Centrale du Renseignement Intérieur (English: General Directorate for Internal Security) from 2 July 2008 to 30 May 2012. He was in charge of counterterrorism intelligence in Corsica, Basque Country and against Islamic extremism. In 2012 he created his company Kyrnos Conseil where he acts as an independent consultant.[1]

Early life

Bernard Squarcini holds a Master of law and a diploma in criminology.[2]

Career

In 1983, he was an aide to the regional director of General Intelligence in Corsica.

In 1988, he was the General Intelligence departmental director for the Pyrénées-Atlantiques region.

In 1989, he became head of the investigations and research division of the Direction centrale des renseignements généraux (DCRG; English: Central Directorate of General Intelligence). In 1993, he was appointed deputy director of Research at DCRG and the position of Deputy Central Director of General Intelligence in 1994 under the management of Yves Bertrand.[3]

Yvan Colonna

Squarcini was instrumental in the 2003 arrest of Yvan Colonna, the alleged murderer of prefect Claude Érignac.

In February 2004 he was appointed deputy prefect for security and defence in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region.

Intelligence and counterterrorism

On 27 June 2007, the Council of Ministers appointed Bernard Squarcini head of the Direction de la surveillance du territoire (DST; English: Directorate of Territorial Surveillance) in replacement of Pierre de Bousquet de Florian.[4]

On 1 July 2008 the DST and the DCRG merged, becoming the Direction Centrale du Renseignement Intérieur (DCRI; English: General Directorate for Internal Security). Bernard Squarcini assumed its leadership on 2 July 2008.[5]

On 30 May 2012 he was replaced by his former deputy, Patrick Calvar, and became prefect.[6]

He left the police force on 28 February 2013 and created his company Kyrnos Conseil. In June 2013 he became Senior Advisor to the Chairman at Arcanum Global, a global strategic intelligence company and a subsidiary of Magellan Investment Holdings, of which M. Ron Wahid is the Chairman.[7]

Established 23 March 2015, Magellan Investment Holdings is a holding company with investments in financial services, energy and natural resources, defense, technology and real estate. Magellan is the parent company of two subsidiaries: Arcanum, a global intelligence firm, and RJI Capital, a corporate finance and strategic advisory company.[8][9]

In 2015, Squarcini was President of Arcanum France, the company’s European branch.[7]

In November 2013, Squarcini published Renseignements français : nouveaux enjeux along with Etienne Pellot, in which he described his vision for a reform of the French intelligence services and a law to structure the intelligence activity, as well as measures to fight against Islamic extremism.[10][11]

Controversy

During December 2021, French firm LVMH paid €10m to settle claims in Paris to end several criminal investigations that a former French intelligence chief, Bernard Squarcini, spied for the company, on competitors and others including on an activist making a film about its billionaire owner, Bernard Arnault. Prosecutors allege that the intelligence chief used tactics like influence peddling, invasion of privacy leveraging his network in intelligence and police on behalf of the company.[12]

Awards

Books
  • Squarcini, Bernard; Pellot, Étienne (15 November 2013). Renseignement français: nouveaux enjeux. Ellipses Marketing. ISBN 978-2-7298-8338-6.

References
  1. Squarcini: «Trop haut trop vite, trop corse», Corse Matin, 26 May 2014
  2. Bernard Squarcini, l'atout antiterroriste de Sarkozy, Le Figaro, June 27, 2007
  3. Portrait : Bernard Squarcini, Nouvel Obs, 27 June 2007
  4. Bernard Squarcini à la tête de la DST Archived 12 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Nouvel Obs, 27 June 2007
  5. (in French)>Décret de nomination du 2 juillet 2008
  6. « Valls remplace le trio de tête de la hiérarchie policière », Le Monde, 30 May 2012
  7. "Squarcini brings Arcanum to Paris". Intelligence Online. 7 October 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  8. "Magellan Investment Holdings Limited". gbr.business.com. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  9. "Magellan Holdings". Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  10. Bernard Squarcini livre sa vision du renseignement français, Parlons Info, 12 February 2014
  11. Audrey Goutard,Mémoires du Squale, Blog France TV Info, 23 November 2013
  12. Abboud, Leila (16 December 2021). "LVMH settles corruption claims linked to former French spy chief". The Financial Times. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
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