Deuxième Bureau

The Deuxième Bureau de l'État-major général ("Second Bureau of the General Staff") was France's external military intelligence agency from 1871 to 1940. It was dissolved together with the Third Republic upon the armistice with Germany. However the term "Deuxième Bureau" (French: [døzjɛm byʁo]), like "MI5" or "SMERSH", outlived the original organization as a general label for the country's intelligence service.

French military intelligence was composed of two separate bureaus prior to World War II. The Premier Bureau was charged with informing the high command about the state of French, allied and friendly troops, while the Deuxième Bureau developed intelligence concerning enemy troops. The Deuxième Bureau was celebrated for its cryptanalytical work, but it was criticized for its involvement in the Dreyfus Affair and its consistent overestimation of German military formations prior to World War II.

Its final director was Colonel Louis Rivet.

On June 8, 1871, the French Ministry of War authorized the creation of a service charged with performing "research on enemy plans and operations".

In 1872, the Ministry authorized the creation of a military counter-espionage service.

In 1876, a Statistiques et de reconnaissances militaires ("Military Statistics and Recognition") section was added to the Deuxième Bureau.

In 1886, a law was passed penalizing espionage activity (another would be passed in 1934).

In October 1894 the Dreyfus Affair occurred and proved so politically divisive that, in May 1899, the government shifted responsibility for counter-espionage to the Ministry of the Interior. A small intelligence section remained within the General Staff, but the Service de surveillance du territoire (Territorial Surveillance Service, SST), an agency of the Sûreté générale, became responsible for the pursuit of foreign spies on French soil. Counter-espionage was to be handled by special Sûreté police chiefs. The Deuxième Bureau's statistical section remained in operation until 1 September 1899, when it was disbanded.

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