Tuesday October 3, six o’clock in the morning. Jean-François Lhuillier was still sleeping at his home in Compiègne (Oise), when half a dozen agents from the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI), the French counterespionage, knocked on the door. Singular face to face between secret agents. Exceptionally, given the particular profile of their target of the day, the police will accept a coffee before carrying out the search. The lieutenant-colonel, retired from the General Directorate of External Security (DGSE), is accused of violating defense secrets by his former service.
In April 2023 he published The man from Tripoli (Mareuil Editions), an account of his three years as head of post of the DGSE in Libya, from 2009 to 2012. The work with 5,142 copies sold, according to Edistat, irritated, boulevard Mortier, in Paris, at the headquarters of the intelligence service, where in any case we enjoy very little of the literary reconversions of ex-spies. The week before the book was released, Jean-François Lhuillier and Bernard Emié, director of the DGSE until January 2024, were still talking in the boss’s office. The soldier had come to present his opus to the senior official, a very cordial acquaintance of twenty years: one was the representative of the secret service in Jordan when the other was the French ambassador, between 1998 and 2002.
Five months later, we no longer fraternize, we crack down. The secret agent-writer leaves his home under escort after a three-hour search, the investigators found nothing apart from a letter from the Ministry of the Armed Forces notifying Jean-François Lhuillier of a threat of reprimand – he published his book after having resigned in writing from the military reserve, but before receiving an official response from his hierarchy, he would therefore have violated his reserve duty according to the ruthless criteria of the administration. He gets into a car, heading towards Levallois-Perret, to the DGSI HQ where he enters with a hood over his head and handcuffs on his wrist. A tiny cell awaits him in these basements usually occupied by jihadists or far-right agitators. He will stay there for 48 hours, and celebrate his 70th birthday on October 4. For the occasion, a muffin is offered to him by his jailers.
“I wanted to encourage vocations”
The first day, two tight, two-hour interrogations on his book, his entourage, his sources, his movements. Investigators want to know if Jean-François Lhuillier discussed the content of his book with serving agents, and if he kept documents from his DGSE years. In short, if he made a gross mistake. At the same time, computer scientists are checking the contents of his computers and phones, looking for damning evidence. They will find nothing there either, the interrogations of the second day are more gentle; on October 5 at six in the morning, he was taken to the Paris judicial court, where he waited in another cell until six p.m.
Finally comes the traditional passage before the investigating judge, Ariane Amson. Following a complaint from the Ministry of the Armed Forces, he was indicted for having committed three offenses under the penal code, compromising defense secrets, revealing information that could lead to the revelation of the identity of a agent of an intelligence service or source, and violation of professional secrecy. In the Man from Tripoli, Lhuiller recounts, pell-mell, the exfiltration of Béchir Saleh, the big financier of the Libyan regime, the chaotic departure of the French from the embassy during the revolution, the errors of the Centrale on a source presented as out of the ordinary, various recruitment attempts, or even the presence of members of the DGSE Action service on Libyan soil. Obviously sensitive information… but already documented by General Gomart, former director of military intelligence, in Shadow Soldier(Tallandier), in 2020.
Jean-François Lhuillier was a hero, awarded the Cross of Military Valor then Knight of the Legion of Honor since 1996, he is now an accused, released under judicial supervision, with the obligation to prevent justice of his movements in the foreigner. On December 12, he was heard again by the investigating judge. His name is associated with discredit in military circles and beyond. “It’s difficult for me,” describes Jean-François Lhuillier to L’Express. I feel damaged in my honor, after fifty years of my life working for the French flag, for which I committed myself at seventeen. The defense of the nation is my entire life’s commitment.” But why did he recount his experience as a secret agent in a book, an inherently risky initiative? “I wanted to show younger generations the capital importance of intelligence services. To encourage vocations,” replies the ex-spy. The former member of the 1st Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment from Bayonne especially tried to take a perilous route. Discuss his missions as a secret agent, without first referring to his department, while custom dictates that spies with literary desires have their copy reread beforehand. Without betraying national defense either, he assures. “I know defense secrets well,” argues Jean-François Lhuillier. I practiced it for 30 years. So I put protective flaps in my story, I changed names, information, precisely in order to respect the law. I also didn’t want to have my book proofread. I did not want to have to conform to a truth as it would have been perceived by the service.” Especially since in the Man from Tripoli, Lhuillier criticizes the clan spirit in the intelligence directorate of the DGSE (the law prohibits naming names), which would be the origin of several major hiccups. Not sure that those involved appreciated it. Several of Lhuillier’s predecessors had to delete passages that did not suit the spymasters of the “Théodule committee”, as the department responsible for these scissor attacks is somewhat ironically nicknamed internally.
In 2010, Maurice Dufresse, former deputy director at the DGSE, was prosecuted by the Ministry of Defense for certain revelations in his work, 25 years in the special services. At his home, 63 documents classified “confidential-defense” at the time of their creation were found. He had been convicted, but not for having revealed the names of two leaders of the service, already cited several times in the press. The case of Jean-François Lhuillier is even darker. In its report, the Ministry of the Armed Forces accuses him of having violated defense secrets… without ever referring to a classified document in particular. No part is mentioned, national defense obliges. His lawyers, Louis Jay, and his partner Arthur Gaulier, are therefore requesting the nullification of the proceedings against him: “Being the executive power and saying that this or that information is a defense secret cannot be enough in the eyes of justice in a Rule of law. The judge must be able to make an independent analysis of the elements invoked. This is a prerequisite before being able to discuss a possible attack,” points out Louis Jay, contacted by L’Express.
A dizzying question
In 2010, Maurice Dufresse, former deputy director at the DGSE, was prosecuted by the Ministry of Defense for certain revelations in his work, 25 years in the special services. At his home, 63 documents classified “confidential-defense” at the time of their creation were found. He had been convicted, but not for having revealed the names of two leaders of the service, already cited several times in the press. The case of Jean-François Lhuillier is even darker. In its report, the Ministry of the Armed Forces accuses him of having violated defense secrets… without ever referring to a classified document in particular. No part is mentioned, national defense obliges. His lawyers, Louis Jay, and his partner Arthur Gaulier, are therefore requesting the nullification of the proceedings against him: “Being the executive power and saying that this or that information is a defense secret cannot be enough in the eyes of justice in a Rule of law. The judge must be able to make an independent analysis of the elements invoked. This is a prerequisite before being able to discuss a possible attack,” points out Louis Jay, contacted by L’Express.
The case also raises the dizzying question of what defense secrecy should protect in a democracy: is it enough to evoke a classified document to obtain the conviction of a defendant, here Jean-François Lhuillier? Or must the DGSE materially demonstrate the attack on national defense, here that the revelation of fifteen-year-old facts is detrimental to France? Conversely, can we publicly discuss the dysfunctions of the DGSE? The intelligence service has always opted for an extensive reading of the rules of secrecy, in order to dissuade possible public confidences. In September 2023, Richard Volange, author d’Espion, 44 years at the DGSE (Talent Editions), published in May 2023, was also indicted for compromising defense secrets.
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