Marcos Santos / USP
Although the course was designed in association with the French secret services, it is also attracting students who want to work in the private sector.
University professor Xavier Crettiez admits that he does not know the real names of many students in his class.
It is a highly unusual situation in the academic world, but the professor’s work is also outside the norm. He helps train French spies.
“I rarely know the background of intelligence agents when they are sent to the course and I doubt that the names given are true”, he says.
If the intention was to create an environment for a spy school, the campus of Sciences Po Saint-Germain-en-Laye University, on the outskirts of the French capital, Paris, seems quite suitable.
Its austere buildings from the beginning of the 20th century, with an appearance that is almost gloomy, are surrounded by intimidating metal gateswhich lead to common and busy highways. Everything very discreet.
The difference is its unique diploma, which equally attracts typical students in their early 20s and active members of the French secret service, typically between 35 and 50 years of age.
O curso chama-se Diploma in Intelligence and Global Threats — Diploma in Intelligence and Global Threatsin free translation. It was developed by the university, in association with the Intelligence Academy, the training sector of the French secret service.
The classes were a request from French authorities a decade ago. After the terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015, the French government promoted a mass recruitment campaign in the country’s intelligence agencies.
Therefore, the government asked Sciences Po, one of the main French universities, to create a new course to train potential new spies and provide ongoing training for current agents.
Large French companies also quickly showed interest, both in bringing their security staff to the course and in hiring many of the younger graduates.
O course has 120 class hours and lasts four months. For external students (spies and company employees), the cost is around 5 thousand euros.
The main objective of the program is to teach students how to identify threats anywhere, how to track them and overcome them.
Key themes include economic aspects of organized crimeIslamic jihadism, commercial intelligence gathering and political violence.
To attend one of the classes and talk to students, you must receive prior approval from the French security services. The theme of the lesson was “intelligence and excessive dependence on technology”.
One of the students is a man in his 40s who introduces himself as Roger, an investment banker.
“I offer consultancy across West Africa and I joined the course to provide risk assessments to my clients in the region”, he says.
Crettiez teaches political radicalization. He explains that the French secret services have undergone enormous expansion in recent years.
There are now about 20 thousand agentsaccording to the professor, in what he calls the “inner circle”, made up of the DGSE, which takes care of international affairs (the French equivalent of the British MI6 or the American CIA) and the DGSI, focused on internal threats (like the British MI5 or the US FBI).
But not everything is just about terrorism, according to the professor.
“There are the two main security agencies, but also Tracfin, an intelligence agency specializing in money laundering.”
“It takes care of the increase in mafia activity, especially in the south of France, including corruption in the public and private sectors, mainly due to the massive profits from illegal drug trafficking,” he explains.
Other teachers include a DGSE agent who was previously posted to Moscow, Russia, a former French ambassador to Libya and a senior Tracfin agent.
The head of security at French energy giant EDF is also responsible for one of the course modules.
O private sector interest for the diploma apparently continues to grow.
Large companies are increasingly willing to hire students to face relentless espionage threatscybersecurity and sabotage. They include especially companies in the defense and aerospace sector, but also French luxury brands.
Recently, graduates have been recruited by French mobile phone operator Orange, aerospace and defense giant Thales and LVHM, which owns almost everything from Louis Vuitton and Dior to champagne brands Dom Perignon and Krug.
Twenty-eight students are enrolled for classes this year. Six of them are spies.
With arms crossed and without declaring his exact position, one of them states that the course is considered a springboard for rapid promotion from the office to field work.
Another says that he can come up with new ideas in the academic environment. Both signed the day’s attendance list with just their first names.
One of the youngest students is Alexandre Hubert21 years old. He says he wanted to better understand the imminent economic war between Europe and China.
“Observe the collection of intelligence from the James Bond point of view It’s not important,” he says. “The point is to analyze the risks and work to combat them.”
Another student is Valentine Guillot, also 21 years old. She says she was inspired by the popular French TV series Le Bureau des Légendes (2015-2020).
“Coming here to discover this world that I didn’t know, except from the TV series, is a memorable opportunity,” he says.
“And now, I’m very interested in going into security services.”
Almost half of the students in the class, in fact, are women. This is a relatively recent change, according to one of the professors, Sebastien-Yves Laurent, an expert in spy technology.
“O women’s interest by intelligence gathering is something new. They are interested because they believe they will contribute to a better world.”
“And if there is a common thread among all these young students, it is that they are very patriotic and this is new, compared to 20 years ago”, explains the professor.
If you want to enroll in the course, an essential requirement is to have French citizenship. But some people with dual citizenship are accepted.
Professor Crettiez says he needs to be cautious when selecting candidates.
“I regularly receive inscriptions of Russian and Israeli women very attractive, with great CVs,” he says. “Of course, they are immediately discarded.”
In a recent photo of the group of students, it is possible to immediately identify who the spies are. They have their backs to the camera.
“Few new recruits will end up in the field,” he said. “Most jobs in French intelligence agencies are for working in the office.”
