Bernard Bajolet (born 21 May 1949)[1] is a French diplomat and civil servant. On 10 April 2013 he was appointed as head of the French secret service, the Directorate-General for External Security (Direction générale des services extérieurs). He was the French Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2011 to 2013.
Bernard Bajolet | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Director of the Directorate-General for External Security | |
| In office 10 April 2013 – 20 May 2017 | |
| President | François Hollande |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 21 May 1949 Dombasle-sur-Meurthe, France |
| Alma mater | Sciences Po, ÉNA |
| Profession | Diplomat |
Early life
editBajolet was born in 1949 at Dombasle-sur-Meurthe and went to Lycée Henri Poincaré in Nancy, France.[1] He then studied at Paris' Sciences Po, and graduated from the École nationale d'administration in 1975. That same year he joined the diplomatic service.[1]
On 18 October 2022, Bernard Bajolet is indicted for "complicity in attempted extortion" and "arbitrary attack on individual freedom by a person holding public authority", against Alain Dumenil, a Franco-Swiss businessman who accuses the intelligence service of having used coercion to demand money from him in 2016.[1].
Diplomatic career
edit- 1975-1978: Deuxième Secrétaire and then Premier Secrétaire at Algiers
- 1978-1979: at the Administration centrale (Information and Press for European issues)
- 1979-1981: au Cabinet du Secrétaire d’Etat aux Affaires Etrangères, responsible for relations with the European Parliament
- 1981-1985: deuxième Conseiller at Rome
- 1985-1986: at Harvard University
- 1986-1990: deuxième Conseiller at Damascus
- 1991-1994: at the Administration Centrale, (Directeur Adjoint for North Africa and the Middle East)
- 1991: Special envoy to the Madrid Conference of 1991
- 1994-1998: French ambassador to Jordan
- 1999-2003: Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Sept. 2003-Aug. 2006: Chief of the section of French interests and then Ambassador to Iraq
- Nov. 2006-2008: Ambassador and High Representative to Algeria
- July 2008-Feb. 2011: coordinator of intelligence for President Nicolas Sarkozy as head of the Conseil national du renseignement
- 2011-2013: Ambassador to Afghanistan
References
edit- ^ a b c d "Biographie de M. Bernard Bajolet". The French Embassy in Algeria. Archived from the original on 1 July 2008. Retrieved 25 December 2008.