FRENCH SECRET SERVICE HIT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201630020-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 20
• Publication Date: August 28, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

lST Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-R
w
WASHINGTON POST
ARTICLE APP RED
ON PAGE - s ~ a 28 August 1985
French Secret Service Hit
Reforms Urged After Protest Ship Attack
sion but cleared them of blowing 'up
By MidmW Dobbs the Rainbow Warrior. The report
w- r.ue ro bs was drawn up by Bernard Tricot, a
former chief of staff to the late Gen.
PARIS, Aug. 27-Prime Minis- Charles de Gaulle, at the request of
ter Laurent Fabius called for re- Fabius.
forms in France's secret services "Tricot Washes Whiter" ran the
today following allegations that they headline in two Paris dailies, Lib-
were involved in the sabotage of an eration and Parisien. Other hews-
environmental group's ship in New papers pointed out apparent con-
Zealand last month. tradictions between the 29-page
Commenting on the results of an report and evidence gathered by
official inquiry into the sinking of the New Zealand police.
the Rainbow Warrior, Fabius said Reaction in opposition circles
he knew of nothing to contradict generally was more restrained;
findings absolving both the French many leaders of the right-wing. op-
government and the secret services Position abstained from comment.
of responsibility for organizing the In a statement explaining why he
attack. The ship was sunk by two would keep silent, former president
Valery Giscard d'Estaing said:
mines as it was preparing for a pro- "Right or wrong, it is still my coun-
test mission against French nuclear try..
policies in the Pacific. The sharpest criticism came
Acknowledging that democratic from a member of the centrist Re-
control over the secret services publican Party, Alain Madelin, who
was unsatisfactory. Fabius told iour- said the official explanation "took
nalists that he would ask the de- Frenchmen for imbeciles."
fense and interior ministers to sub- Several commentators asked why
mit annual reports to parliament on it was necessary for the DGSE to
intelli ence- atherin activities. He. send four frogmen, all expert in un-
~ai that the official investuution derwater sabotage, to New Zealand
had revealed "important shortcom- if their mission was limited to ob-
ings" in the intelligence services. serving Greenpeace.
The prime minister's statement In New Zealand, Prime Minister
appeared to be an attempt by the David Lange described the Tricot
Socialist government to head off report as "too transparent to be
suggestions of a cover-up. Fabius even a whitewash." He suggested to
said France condemned the "crim- a radio interviewer that "there is a
inal action" unreservedly and would time bomb ticking away for Mr. Tri-
cooperate with New Zealand in cot and the French government if
bringing the guilty to justice. the French opposition is any good at
Two officers in France's General all."
I rectorate for External Security Lange's comments, as well as
(DGSE), the French equivalent of reaction to the Tricot report in
the Central Intelligence Agency' France, appeared to reflect a sig-
are awaiting trial in New Zealand on. nificant raising of the political
charges of murdering a Portuguese . stakes. If the DGSE agents are in-
Qhotographer for the Greenpeace nocent, the French press and the
organization who was killed in the New Zealand government stand to
July 10 attack. International arrest look stupid. If the agents are guilty,
warrants have been issued for three the French government risks being
accused of having attempted a cov-
other DGSE agents now back in er-up.
Fr. [The Rainbow Warrior contro-
French commentators reacted
ren
today with a mixture of skepticism versy spilled into Britain as a
spokesman for the
and outright disbelief to the official opposition Labor
cal -4m
report, which acknowledged the Party the government to
DSGE agents' presence in New launch its own investigation, Wash-
Zealand on a "reconnaissance" mis- ington Post correspondent Karen
De-Young reported from London.
D P90-00965 R000201630020-1
[Noting that the ship flew the
British flag, ' former merchant sea-
man John Prescott, a Labor mem-
ber of Parliament, said that under
British law, an investigation.is re-
quired whenever a ship is lost.
[There were additional sugges-
tions in the British press that New
Zealand may have been tipped off to
possible French participation in the
sinking by M15, Britain's domestic
security agency. A London dealer
reportedly sold to a French-speak-
ing man. the special rubber dinghies
New Zealand has said were used in
surveillance of the Rainbow War-
rior. The suggestion here is that
the London salesman reported to
M15 the purchase by the man, who
paid in cash and declined to have a
sale slip written up.)
Fabius called upon the New
Zealand government to inform the
French judicial authorities of all the
evidence against the DGSE agents.
He said that any French citizen
found to have taken part in the sab-
otage would be prosecuted.
Conceding that "question marks
persist" in the DGSE's handling of
the affair, the prime minister called
for an investigation of the agency's
"shortcomings" by Defense Minis-
ter Charles Hernu.
Observers noted that-contrary
to the impression given by
Fabius-there is no specific refer-
ence to DGSE "shortcomings" in
the Tricot report. In fact, the re-
port goes out of its way to empha-
size that discipline in the agency
generally has been tightened since
the appointment of Adm. Pierre
Lacoste as director general in No-
vember 1982.
Fabius refused to answer report-
ers' questions after his brief state-
ment.
The dilemma facing the govern-
ment was reflected in an editorial in
Liberation, an independent leftist
daily, which said that the Socialists,
had laid themselves open to charges
of incompetence whatever the out-
come of the "Greenpeace affair..".
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201630020-1
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201630020-1
If it is shown that DGSE agents
did indeed sabotage the Rainbow
Warrior, the entire operation. was
clearly very badly bungled. If, on
the other hand, it turns out that
someone else was responsible for
the attack in order to embarrass the
French secret services, then the
DGSE can be accused of falling into
the trap. 11
In its first official reaction to the
Tricot report, the Greenpeace
movement described the French
version of the sinking of the Rain-
bow Warrior as "an insult to public
intelligence and world opinion-"'. .
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201630020-1