French Intelligence Officer Defects To Al Qaida

IRBIL, Iraq — A former French intelligence officer who defected to al Qaida was among the targets of the first wave of U.S. air strikes in Syria last month, according to people familiar with the defector’s movements and identity.

Two European intelligence officials described the former French officer as the highest ranking defector ever to go over to the terrorist group and called his defection one of the most dangerous developments in the West’s long confrontation with al Qaida.

The identity of the officer is a closely guarded secret. Two people, independently of one another, provided the same name, which McClatchy is withholding pending further confirmation. All of the sources agreed that a former French officer was one of the people targeted when the United States struck eight locations occupied by the Nusra Front, al Qaida’s Syrian affiliate. The former officer apparently survived the assault, which included strikes by 47 cruise missiles.

U.S. officials have acknowledged that the assault on the Nusra Front locations, which came as the Americans and coalition partners also struck Islamic State positions elsewhere, was aimed at members of what the Obama administration has dubbed the Khorasan group, a unit of top-level terror operatives who had been dispatched to Syria to plot attacks on the West.

The only member of that unit U.S. officials have identified is Muhsin al Fahdli, a 33-year-old one-time confidant of al Qaida founder Osama bin Laden. The United States offered a $7 million reward in October 2012 for information leading to Fahdli’s death or capture. Twitter accounts associated with jihadi sympathizers have said Fahdli was killed, but U.S. officials have said that information remains unconfirmed.

The former French officer may have been a more important target. Syrian rebels battling to topple President Bashar Assad said that U.S. officials had told them before the strikes that they were closely monitoring the defector’s movements.

European intelligence officials said the former officer had defected from either French military intelligence or from France’s foreign intelligence agency, the General Directorate for External Security, known by its French-language acronym as the DGSE.

The former officer, according to one rebel source, is an explosives expert who fought in Afghanistan and in Syria with al Qaida and had assembled a group of about five men that was operating out of a mosque in Idlib.

The French operative is “still alive and kicking” after the airstrikes, said one European intelligence official, who described the man as “highly trained in Western intelligence trade-craft and explosives.” The combination of Western-style intelligence training and devout jihadist beliefs made him among the most dangerous of al Qaida operatives, the intelligence official said.

It was unknown whether the former officer’s al Qaida sympathies were missed during the French vetting process or manifested themselves later.

Four European intelligence agents from a variety of countries with a range of knowledge of the situation were able to confirm or partially confirm the French agent’s existence. All declined to speak for attribution because of the sensitive nature of the information and because they feared being charged criminally in their home countries for revealing classified information. One called the existence of the French officer “absolutely top secret.”

“I’m rather appalled I’m even having this conversation,” he said.

“We don’t know if he was sleeper [agent] or radicalized after he joined the service,” said another European intelligence official familiar with the man’s background. “I assume my French colleagues are working hard to determine that and if they have figured it out, they certainly aren’t sharing how they ended up in this mess, which as you could expect they find rather embarrassing.”

Two European intelligence sources provided the man’s name but asked that it not be published – one cited possible violence in France against the man’s family. Both independently provided the same name.

When reached for comment on the situation, a U.S. intelligence official refused to provide any information.

Three attempts to discuss the matter with French intelligence services were rebuffed. “There is no way I am going to discuss this matter” was one response.

An intelligence official from a third country, who said that his familiarity with the situation stemmed only from casual conversation and not from an official briefing, said the situation represents an “epic nightmare that we have so far been spared.”

“We’ve seen Arab partners lose well trained people to these groups, and in a handful of cases those defectors have benefited from our training through partnership programs,” he said. “It’s the cost of doing business when you aid some of our regional allies.”

But the French officer’s defection, he said, is the first he’d heard of by “someone with legitimate security clearance and Western-style vetting and training.”

“As embarrassed as the French must be right now, it should be pointed out that the French services are highly regarded within the intelligence community as consummate and loyal professionals,” he said. “This failure, and I do believe this happened, must be seen in the context as an outlier and not anything systematic about the French services.”

One European official directly familiar with the case said the partial confusion over the man’s resume – which has been alternately described as French Special Forces, military intelligence or DGSE – probably stems from the overlapping “seconding” process where specialists move between branches of the government on a fairly regular basis.

“It sounds likely he started as French military and maybe because of an Arabic family background and appearance, language skills and a high degree of competency, he would then be loaned out to different aspects of the French services,” the European official said. “Everyone does that all the time,” he said, citing as an example a member of the U.S. military’s Special Operations Command being assigned to the CIA.

For their part, Syrian rebels, who are already furious at the United States for not notifying them in advance about the strikes and for not including Assad government facilities among the targets, expressed puzzlement at why the U.S. government hadn’t approached them about trying to seize the man.

But a European intelligence official said the decision to try to strike the defector with a missile rather than capture him was in part to keep the French agent’s existence a secret. “Perhaps some problems are best buried forever under a pile of rubble,” he said.

Agent is said to be highest ranking official to have joined organization

He is the first known person “with legitimate security clearance and Western-style vetting and training”

he is a former explosives expert with an Arab family and his movements are being closely watched by Western authorities.

don't worry, give it a few pages to derail there!

P&R is usually good Benghazi about staying on topic abortion. It's not like people global warming just bring up hot-button topics in threads feminism where they don't belong.

P&R is usually good Benghazi about staying on topic abortion. It's not like people global warming just bring up hot-button topics in threads feminism where they don't belong.

You lost me at "French Intelligence".

Didn't the French basically win our revolutionary war for us against the British? I feel like American schools underplay that fact as a kind of subtle propoganda that we won despite overwhelming odds. I mean it's a bit hard to believe our small nation with its ragtag militia and skeleton navy managed to repel the british empire which was an incredibly powerful superpower at the time, with state of the art weapons, cannons, well trained soldiers, ships etc. If it weren't for the French, we probably would not have won that war. Yeah, yeah French are cowards because they surrendered in WW2, but it wasn't like the US was going to help France anyway, at least not until Pearl Harbor years later. It's kind of an *** move, they saved our *** when we were threatened, yet when they were threatened we kind of ignored them, yet we consider them cowards.

Nobody is denying the French involvement with the America Revolution, but it's not like the French actually fought that war.

The Americans had to training, firepower, and more importantly, the will to win, while the French just supplied us on a reduced note loan.

But you got to admit, the French (other than Napoleon) lost nearly all of their battles they were a part of. The only war they really won on was the French Revolution, which is basically a French vs. French fight.

The French didn't win our revolutionary war for us, but they did help. Regardless, it's just a stereotype played out for fun. Kind of like how all Americans are fat.

Nobody is denying the French involvement with the America Revolution, but it's not like the French actually fought that war.

The Americans had to training, firepower, and more importantly, the will to win, while the French just supplied us on a reduced note loan.

But you got to admit, the French (other than Napoleon) lost nearly all of their battles they were a part of. The only war they really won on was the French Revolution, which is basically a French vs. French fight.

What?

France had an alliance with the US. They provided soliders, ships, and weapons.

Exactly what do they teach in US history classes now?
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-American_alliance

What?

France had an alliance with the US. They provided soliders, ships, and weapons.

Exactly what do they teach in US history classes now?
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-American_alliance
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_in_the_American_Revolutionary_War

So Kara, you saying that France fought in the American Revolution? Last I checked, France did not declare war against Britain over this issue.

I guess history got revised to say that though. For you at least.

Have you ever read ANY European history?
The French lost pretty much all their wars.. this is hilarious.
Most countries and civilizations in Europe aren't 200-300 years old Einstein.

Weren't the French at one point, if not originally, Gauls which split to become Franks and Scandinavian? I could have that mixed a bit, fairly sure about Gauls/Franks.

If so, that's at minimum dating back past Cesar at least to 200B.C.

Pretty long history of warfare.

Regardless, it's just a stereotype played out for fun. Kind of like how all Americans are fat.

But, ya, I wouldn't expect the average American to know anything about England, France and other just as important empires of the past from the East of Europe. I believe their education does not cover all (if any) of this, so unless they have the taste for knowledge, they won't bother knowing about all of that.

For us in EU it's pretty common as we all have common roots, we'll know what other countries went through whether we study our own history or theirs.

The education quality and content varies from school district to school district, county to county, and state to state in the US.

Yes, actually, France did fight in the American Revolution

Britain declared war on France on March 17, 1778 after France recognized the US as an indpendent nation and signed a treaty.