Nicolas Lerner is appointed head of the foreign intelligence service after previously heading the domestic intelligence service

With the appointment of the current DGSI boss as DGSE, Bernard Emié's mandate of more than six years ends.

Published on December 20, 2023 3:29 p.m

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The new head of the General Directorate for External Security (DGSE), Nicolas Lerner, on March 27, 2023 in Paris. (LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP)

Prefect Nicolas Lerner, who was at the forefront of the fight against terrorism as Director General of Internal Security (DGSI) for five years, was appointed on Wednesday December 20 as head of the External Intelligence Services (DGSE), a move that is still was not published.

He will be replaced by Céline Berthon, currently number two in the General Directorate of the National Police. At 47, she is the first woman to take over the leadership of the DGSI. “As a police officer with a remarkable career,” she will have to “lead one of the most sensitive administrations in our country,” Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin wrote on X.

At my suggestion, the President of the Republic appointed Céline Berthon as Director General of Internal Security (DGSI), the first woman to hold this position. As a police officer with a distinguished career and current Deputy Director General of the National Police, she must… pic.twitter.com/azfhOHOseh

– Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) December 20, 2023

The minister also sent a “big thank you” to Nicolas Lerner, who led the DGSI “with absolute commitment”. This Enarque, who comes from the same promotion as Emmanuel Macron, to whom he is close, was appointed Director General of Internal Security in October 2018. The 45-year-old senior civil servant has spent his entire career working primarily at the Interior Ministry on security issues.

A weakened predecessor

During his tenure, he made the DGSI the undisputed leader in the fight against terrorism and increased its resources. By the end of 2023, it will have a total of 5,000 agents, up from 4,200 at the end of 2018.

This appointment of Nicolas Lerner ends the mandate of Bernard Emié, a trained diplomat who led the DGSE for more than six years. In recent years, the outside general's leadership has been heavily criticized for a series of failures, most notably its failure to account for Russia's invasion of Ukraine and successive coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.