General Directorate for Internal Security

General Directorate for Internal Security

Direction générale de la Sécurité intérieure
Agency overview
Formed	12 May 2014; 10 years ago (2014-05-12)
Jurisdiction	French Ministry of the Interior
Headquarters	84 Rue de Villiers, Levallois-Perret, France
Employees	> 3,300
Annual budget	€300 million
Minister responsible	Gérald Darmanin
Agency executive	Nicolas Lerner
Website	dgsi.interieur.gouv.fr

The General Directorate for Internal Security (French: Direction générale de la Sécurité intérieure, DGSI; also known as the Directorate-General for Internal Security in English)^[1] is a French security agency. It is charged with counter-espionage, counter-terrorism, countering cybercrime and surveillance of potentially threatening groups, organisations and social phenomena.

The agency was created in 2008 under the name Central Directorate of Interior Intelligence (French: Direction centrale du renseignement intérieur, DCRI), merging the Direction centrale des renseignements généraux (RG) and the Direction de la surveillance du territoire (DST) of the National Police. It acquired its current name in 2014, with a small structural shift: contrary to the DCRI which was part of the National Police, the DGSI reports directly to the Ministry of the Interior.^[2]

The DGSI is headed by General Director Nicolas Lerner.^[3] The agency is informally known as the "RG", a nickname formerly used for the Direction centrale des renseignements généraux which merged into it.

The DGSI performs among the others the following tasks: prevents and halts any action or interference from foreign entities; fights acts of terrorism or acts that threaten the security and sustainability of the state or undermine the integrity of the territory; participates in the surveillance of radicalised individuals and groups who may turn to violence and threaten national security; fights against international criminal organisations that may have an impact on national security. As Aleksander Olech, the DGSI is the only secret service in the French Republic to cooperate directly with judicial institutions (l’institution judiciaire).^[4]