Advice, info, quizzes
As well as offering practical advice on how to protect oneself from cyberattacks, the
DGIS website warns citizens of the unscrupulous methods used by foreign spy agencies to recruit sources and collect sensitive information.
“A professional manipulator, a spy will first show sympathy and interest in the private life and activities of the person they are targeting,” it cautions.
“They are an enlightened strategist who will do everything in their power to trap their target in an insidious spiral from which that person will not be able to extricate themselves without outside help.”
The website also offers a virtual museum packed with unusual objects related to the world of espionage – think James Bond-style gadgets – as well as quizzes for young people who might one day want to become secret agents.
Then there’s info on how the service has been set up, the legal framework under which it operates and a list of the modern defence challenges it faces.
Active recruitment
Created in 2014,
the DGSI is the resulting merger of two police services – the General Intelligence and the Directorate of Territorial Surveillance. It actively recruits hundreds of agents every year, boasting a team of almost 5,000 men and women.
The testimonies of some of those agents can be found on the website, where would-be agents can also lodge their job applications.
“Talking about the secret activities of an intelligence service is complicated,“ Lerner said.
“But it is precisely because we are a service whose activity is classified that we have a strong obligation to talk, to explain and to make known who we are.”