Direction générale des études et de la documentation explained

General Directorate for Studies and Documentation
Native Name:Direction Générale des Études et de la Documentation
Native Name A:المديرية العامة للدراسات والمستندات
Type:Intelligence agency
Seal:Blazon_de_la_DGED.svg
Seal Size:150
Headquarters:Rabat, Morocco
Employees:4,000 (2003 estimate)[1]
Budget:1,08 billion dirham (2015)[2]
Chief1 Name:Mohammed Yassine Mansouri
Chief1 Position:General Director
Parent Department:Administration for National Defense

The General Directorate for Studies and Documentation (DGED) is the foreign intelligence agency of Morocco, under authority of the Administration for National Defense.[3] It is officially tasked with maintaining national security and the safety of national institutions.[4]

The current general director of the DGED is Mohammed Yassine Mansouri, who studied with Mohammed VI at the Royal College and previously ran Maghreb Arabe Press.[5] [6] [7] Mansouri was appointed to the position by Mohammed VI on February 14, 2005.[8] The agency collaborates often with its internal counterpart, the DGST.[9] [10]

History

The DGED was created on January 12, 1973 under a Royal Dahir,[11] in the aftermath of two failed coups against Hassan II.[12] It was modeled after the now-defunct French Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage.[13] The directorate was run by Ahmed Dlimi until his death in 1983. Dlimi previously ran the CAB-1, a political police unit during the Years of Lead that later became the DGST.[14] [15]

Following Dlimi's death, General Abdelhak El Kadiri headed the DGED until his retirement in 2001.[16] Following El Kadiri's retirement, Ahmed Harchi was appointed as the head of the DGED in July 2001.[17] Mohammed Yassine Mansouri named the general director of the DGED by King Mohammed VI on February 14, 2005, becoming the first civilian to hold the title.

The DGED caused controversy following the 2003 Casablanca bombings for its help in the arrest and conviction of six high-ranking politicians in the Justice and Development Party for complicity in the bombings.[18] A reporter for Al-Manar, a TV station affiliated with Hezbollah was also convicted under the same charges.

In a 2009 interview, Mohammed Yassine Mansouri claimed that the spread of Wahhabism and Shia Islam by Saudi Arabia and Iran as a threat, claiming that both ideologies were aggressive. In the same interview, Mansouri also claimed that Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb was seen a major threat by Morocco.

In 2014, a Twitter account named @chris_coleman24, which was likely controlled by the French DGSE,[19] leaked documents and emails between Moroccan consulates and the DGED,[20] the user claimed that their goal was to "destabilize Morocco".[21] [22] Arrêt sur Images claimed that some of the documents leaked by the user were falsified.[23] [24] Morocco's Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused "pro-Polisario organizations" with the complicity of the Algerian government of running the Twitter account. Despite this, Algérie Presse Service claims that the user was a "famous American hacker".[25]

In 2017, the French IGPN arrested an officer of the French Border Police for allegedly giving the DGED files on up to 200 people marked under a Fiche S, France's indicator for people deemed a threat to national security.[26] [27] [28] In 2021, the IGPN claimed that members of the DGED had infiltrated the French Council of the Muslim Faith.[29] In 2022, the DGED was caught in a scandal involving its agents infiltrating the European Parliament.[30] [31]

Activities

The DGED states its official mission as "participating in maintaining the security of the kingdom, the state and its institutions". According to a 2003 report by Maroc Hebdo, the DGED has 4,000 employees total, 60% of which are members of the Royal Armed Forces, the remaining being civilians.[32] According to the same report, 5% of DGED employees are women, and there are an estimated 250 to 300 agents abroad working for the DGED. Mohamed Reda Taoujni, previous owner of the journal Assahra Al Ousbouiya, claimed that the DGED controlled his journal and had published articles to the journal and its online counterpart through pseudonyms.[33]

The DGED collaborates with foreign services in security and terrorism-related affairs, including exchange of information regarding specific Moroccans targeted by foreign services.[34]

According to Ali Lmrabet, the DGED was reported to have staff in consulates and embassies of Morocco, hence benefiting from diplomatic immunity.[35] Lmrabet adds that the DGED used journalists working for the Maghreb Arabe Press as agents, and journalists were allegedly tasked with sending wires to the DGED containing information they gathered.[36]

Notes and References

  1. News: Les services secrets marocains en action La DST, surveillance à trois étages La DGED, toutes voiles dehors . 27 April 2022 . Maroc-Hebdo . 2003-01-24 . fr.
  2. News: Jaabouk . Mohammed . Les renseignements marocains ont la cote malgré des moyens limités . 27 April 2022 . Yabiladi.com . 2015-11-21 . fr.
  3. Book: La législation Marocaine relative à la gouvernance du secteur de sécurité . Centre d'études en Droits Humains et Démocratie . 2016 . fr.
  4. Web site: 2010-01-25 . Marruecos . 2022-11-17 . Inteligencia . es.
  5. Web site: DAHBI . Omar . Un civil à la tête de la DGED . 2022-04-27 . Aujourd'hui le Maroc . fr-FR.
  6. Book: Amar, Ali . Mohammed VI : le grand malentendu . 2009 . Calmann-Lévy . 978-2-7021-4010-9 . Paris . 320879035.
  7. Web site: Le Matin . MAP . S.M. le Roi nomme Yassine Mansouri directeur général de la DGED . 2022-04-27 . Le Matin . fr.
  8. Web site: Mohamed-Yassine Mansouri a une expérience diversifiée : une connaissance du secteur de l'information et de la communication et une ouverture à l'international. Le "joker" du Roi . 2022-04-27 . Maroc-Hebdo.
  9. Web site: 2021-08-01 . Collaboration exemplaire entre services sécuritaires du Maroc et l'Europe . 2022-04-28 . Maroc Diplomatique . fr-FR.
  10. Web site: 2021-03-13 . Habboub Cherkaoui (BCIJ) : Pour nous, le "tberguig" n'a aucune connotation négative . 2022-04-28 . Médias24 . fr-FR.
  11. Dahir portant loi n° 1-73-8 du 7 hijra 1392 (12 janvier 1973) relatif à la creation d'une Direction générale des études et de la documentation . Bulletin Officiel . 3144 . 11.
  12. Book: Raisons d'états: tout sur l'affaire Ben Barka et d'autres crimes politiques au Maroc. 2005. 185. Ahmed Boukhari. Ahmed Boukhari.
  13. Web site: Macé . Célian . Paris et Rabat, nécessaires partenaires . 2022-04-27 . Libération . fr.
  14. News: Smith . Stephen . Jamai . Aboubakr . Amar . Ali . 2001-07-01 . La vérité sur la " disparition " au Maroc de Mehdi Ben Barka . fr . . 2022-04-27.
  15. Web site: Filali . Kenza . Affaire Ben Barka : François Hollande lève le secret-défense sur 89 documents majeurs . 2022-04-27 . Le Desk . en-US.
  16. Book: Mahjoub Tobji. Mahjoub Tobji. Les officiers de sa majesté. 2006.
  17. Web site: Putsch civil à la DGED . 2022-04-27 . Maroc-Hebdo.
  18. News: Erlanger . Steven . Mekhennet . Souad . 2009-08-26 . Islamic Radicalism Slows Moroccan Reforms . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-04-28 . 0362-4331.
  19. Web site: Today . Politics . 2023-02-13 . A Secret Intelligence War between Morocco and France? . 2023-04-11 . Politics Today . en-US.
  20. Web site: El Yadari . Issam . Le corbeau " Chris Coleman ", auteur des MarocLeaks, est-il de retour? . 2022-04-28 . Le Desk . en-US.
  21. Web site: Majidi . Yassine . Des documents confidentiels de responsables marocains fuitent sur le web . 2022-04-28 . TelQuel . fr.
  22. Web site: 2015-01-03 . Un mystérieux hacker tente de déstabiliser le régime marocain . 2022-11-17 . LE FIGARO . fr.
  23. Web site: Manach . Jean-Marc . Maroc-Algérie : quand tweetent les barbouzes... . 2022-04-28 . Arrêt sur Images.
  24. Web site: 2014-12-08 . Un Wikileaks version marocaine sème le trouble... et le doute . 2022-04-28 . France 24 . fr.
  25. News: Un célèbre hacker américain dévoile un plan marocain de diffamation des pays voisins . .
  26. Web site: Sellami . Stéphane . 2017-06-23 . L'histoire rocambolesque du policier qui remettait des fiches S au Maroc . 2022-04-28 . Le Point . fr.
  27. Web site: Alonso . Pierre . Devin . Willy Le . Un policier français soupçonné d'avoir balancé des fiches S aux services marocains . 2022-04-28 . Libération . fr.
  28. Web site: Un policier aux frontières français à la solde des services marocains ? . 2022-04-28 . Le Desk . en-US.
  29. Web site: Leplongeon . Marc . 2021-12-01 . EXCLUSIF. L'offensive des services secrets marocains sur l'islam de France . 2022-04-28 . Le Point . fr.
  30. News: Becker . Markus . Buschmann . Rafael . Naber . Nicola . Neukirch . Ralf . Truckendanner . Petra . 2023-01-20 . A Secret Meeting in Suite 412: Inside the European Parliament Corruption Scandal . 2024-04-18 . Der Spiegel . en . 2195-1349.
  31. Web site: 2023-05-03 . ENQUÊTE. M118, l’espion marocain soupçonné d’avoir infiltré le Parlement européen . 2024-04-18 . lejdd.fr . fr.
  32. Web site: Associated Press . Important remaniement à la tête du contre-espionnage marocain . 2022-04-28 . Yabiladi.
  33. Mohamed Reda Taoujni . Mohamed Reda Taoujni piégé par la DGED (LA HONTE) . ar . 2022-04-28.
  34. News: Karim Boukhari . Abdellatif El Azizi . Exclusif. Voyage au cœur des services secrets . . 167 . live . subscription . 27 June 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070402020728/http://www.telquel-online.com/167/couverture_167_1.shtml . April 2, 2007.
  35. News: Lmrabet . Ali . 12 February 2014 . L'ambassade du Maroc à Paris serait derrière les déboires de Khadija Ryadi . Demain online . dead . 27 June 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140221204010/http://www.demainonline.com/2014/01/05/madrid-refuse-daccorder-la-nationalite-espagnole-a-un-agent-de-la-dged/ . 21 February 2014 . dem.
  36. News: Ali Lmrabet . Ali Lmrabet . 27 January 2013 . Les "fonctionnaires-journalistes" de la MAP sont-ils des espions à la solde de la DGED ? . Demain online . dead . 27 June 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140924055637/http://www.demainonline.com/2013/01/27/les-fonctionnaires-journalistes-de-la-map-sont-ils-des-espions-a-la-solde-de-la-dged/ . 24 September 2014.

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