The French university where spies go for training

University professor Xavier Crettiez admits that he does not know the real names of most of the students who take his course.

This is highly unusual in academia, but Prof Crettiez’s work is far from standard.

Instead, he helps train France’s spies.

“I rarely know the background of intelligence agents when they are sent on the course, and I doubt the names I was given are real anyway,” he says.

If you’re looking to create the setting for a spy school, Sciences Po Saint-Germain’s campus on the outskirts of Paris seems like a great fit.

It has a very discreet feel, with gloomy, even dreary-looking buildings from the early 20th century, surrounded by busy, dreary roads and large, intimidating metal gates.

Where it stands out is its unique diploma, which brings together more typical students in their early 20s and active members of the French secret services, usually between the ages of 35 and 50.

The name of the course is Diplôme sur le Renseignement et les Menaces Globales, which means Diploma in Intelligence and Global Threats.

It was developed by the university together with the Academie du Renseignement, the training arm of the French secret services.

This followed a request from French authorities a decade ago. Following the terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015, the government launched a major personnel recruitment campaign within French intelligence agencies.

He asked Sciences Po, one of France’s leading universities, to create a new course to both train potential new spies and provide continuing education to existing agents.

Large French companies have also shown rapid interest, both in recruiting security personnel for the course and in snapping up many of the young graduates.

The diploma consists of 120 hours of classroom study with modules spread over four months. For external students (spies and students from businesses) it costs around €5,000 ($5,900; £4,400).

The main goal of the course is to identify threats wherever they are and how to track and overcome them. Main topics include the economics of organized crime, Islamic jihadism, business intelligence gathering and political violence.

In order to attend one of the lectures and speak to the students, I first had to be vetted by the French security services. The theme of the lecture I attended was “over-dependence on intelligence and technology”.

One of the students I spoke to is a man in his 40s who goes by the name Roger. He told me in very clear and concise English that he was an investment banker. He adds: “I provide consultancy in West Africa and took the course to provide risk assessments to my clients there.”

Prof Crettiez, who teaches political radicalization, says there has been a major expansion of the French secret services in recent years. And there are now about 20,000 agents in what he calls the “inner perimeter.”

This consists of the DGSE, which deals with overseas affairs, and is the French equivalent of the UK’s MI6 or the US’s CIA. And the DGSI focuses on threats from within France, like Britain’s MI5 or the US’s FBI.

But he says it’s not just about terrorism. “There are two main security agencies, but also Tracfin, which is an intelligence agency that specializes in money laundering.

“Particularly in Southern France, it is preoccupied with an increase in mafia activity, including corruption in the public and private sectors due to the huge profits from illegal drug trafficking.”

Other speakers at the course include a DGSE official who was once based in Moscow, a former French ambassador to Libya and a senior official from Tracfin. The security chief of French energy giant EDF also manages a module.

It is said that the private sector’s interest in diplomas continues to increase. Large businesses, particularly in the defense and aerospace sector, as well as French luxury goods firms, are increasingly keen to employ students as they face relentless cybersecurity and espionage threats as well as sabotage.

Recent graduates have been snapped up by French mobile phone operator Orange, aerospace and defense giant Thales and LVHM, which owns everything from Louis Vuitton and Dior to champagne brands Dom Perignon and Krug.

There are 28 students enrolled in this year’s class. Six of them are spies. You can tell who they are because they are huddled together during breaks, away from the younger students, and they don’t seem too overwhelmed with joy when I approach them.

Without mentioning their exact roles and with folded arms, the course is said to be considered a fast-track to promotion from office to field work. Another says he gets fresh ideas in this academic environment. They signed the day’s entry form with only their names.

One of the young students, 21-year-old Alexandre Hubert, says he wants to understand more deeply the upcoming economic war between Europe and China. “Looking at intelligence gathering from a James Bond perspective is irrelevant, it’s about analyzing the risk and figuring out how to counter it,” he told me.

Another member of the class, Valentine Guillot, also 21, says she was inspired by the popular, fictional French TV spy drama Le Bureau. “It was an extraordinary opportunity to come here to explore this world that I knew nothing about apart from the TV series, and now I’m very keen to join the security services.”

Almost half of the students in the class are actually women. And this is a relatively new development, according to one of the instructors, espionage technology expert Sebastien-Yves Laurent.

“Women’s interest in intelligence gathering is new,” she says. “They are interested because they think it will make for a better world.

“And if there’s one thing in common among all these young students, it’s that they’re very patriotic, and that’s new compared to 20 years ago.

If you want to apply to take the course, French citizenship is a basic requirement, although some dual citizens are also accepted.

But Prof Crettiez says he needs to be careful. “I regularly receive applications from very attractive Israeli and Russian women with great resumes. Unsurprisingly, these women are quickly thrown out.”

You can immediately tell who the spies are in a recent group photo of the class; They had their back to the camera.

While all the students and professional spies I have met are stylish and athletic, Prof Crettiez is also keen to dispel the myth of James Bond-like adventure.

“There will be very few new recruits coming into the field,” he says. “Most of the work of French intelligence agencies is desk-based.”