Philippe Rondot (5 October 1936 – 31 December 2017) was a French general, formerly an important personality of the French intelligence. He worked for both the domestic intelligence

DST Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time or simply daylight time (United States, Canada, and Australia), and summer time (United Kingdom, European Union, and others), is the practice of advancing clocks (typicall ...

and the foreign intelligence

DGSE The General Directorate for External Security (french: link=no, Direction générale de la Sécurité extérieure, DGSE) is France's foreign intelligence agency, equivalent to the British MI6 and the American CIA, established on 2 April 1982. ...

(traditionally rival services) and was an aide to several Defence Ministers.

Early life

Philippe Rondot was born in Nancy in 1936. He graduated from the ''

École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr The École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr (ESM, literally the "Special Military School of Saint-Cyr") is a French military academy, and is often referred to as Saint-Cyr (). It is located in Coëtquidan in Guer, Morbihan, Brittany. Its motto is ...

'' in 1965, and he earned a PhD in political sociology.

Career

Rondot joined the "special services" in 1965 as an officer of the "action" branch of the SDECE (ancestor of the present DGSE). In the late 1970s, he joined the DST. In 1994, he was active in the capture of terrorist

Ilich Ramírez Sánchez Ilich Ramírez Sánchez (; born 12 October 1949), also known as Carlos the Jackal ( es, link=no, Carlos el Chacal) or simply Carlos, is a Venezuelan convicted of terrorist crimes, and currently serving a life sentence in France for the 1975 murder ...

(aka "Carlos the Jackal") in

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

. He also took part in hostage liberations in

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

and

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. From 1997, he was in charge of coordinating intelligence at the Defence Ministry, until he retired on 31 December 2005. His title was "''conseiller pour le renseignement et les opérations spéciales''" ("advisor for intelligence and special operations") of the Defence minister, first

Alain Richard Alain Richard (, born 29 August 1945) is a French politician serving as Senator for Val-d'Oise since 2011. A member of the National Assembly for Val-d'Oise from 1978 to 1993, he was elected to the Senate in 1995 before his appointment as Minist ...

and later

Michèle Alliot-Marie Michèle Yvette Marie-Thérèse Jeanne Honorine Alliot-Marie (; born 10 September 1946), known in France as MAM, is a French politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from France. She is a member of the Republicans, part of the Eur ...

. Rondot became a Grand Officer of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

in 2006.

Second Clearstream Affair

The second

Clearstream Clearstream is a financial services company that specializes in the settlement of securities transactions and is owned by Deutsche Börse AG. It provides settlement and custody as well as other related services for securities across all asset cl ...

affair is an episode of the enquiry regarding the selling of s to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

by Thomson, then directed by . After receiving a Clearstream listing from

Jean-Louis Gergorin Jean-Louis Gergorin is a French cybersecurity expert, strategy consultant, former diplomat, and former executive vice president of EADS—the giant European aerospace company that controls and has been subsequently known as Airbus. He was at the or ...

, Philippe Rondot directed an inquiry, following orders from the minister of Defence, and reporting to Prime Minister

Dominique de Villepin Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin (; born 14 November 1953) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007 under President Jacques Chirac. In his career working at the Minist ...

directly. This caused Rondot's house to be searched in March 2006, and himself to be audited, by judges Jean-Marie d'Huy and Henri Pons.

Death

Rondot resided in a manor in

Fléty Fléty () is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France. Geography The river Alène The Alène () is a long river in the Nièvre department in central France. Its source is at Poil, about west of the village, in the ''parc nature ...

, where he died on December 31, 2017, aged 81.

Works

* ''La Syrie'',

Presses universitaires de France Presses universitaires de France (PUF, English: ''University Press of France''), founded in 1921 by Paul Angoulvent (1899–1976), is the largest French university publishing house. Recent company history The financial and legal structure ...

, Paris, 1978 . * ''L'Irak'', Presses universitaires de France, Paris, 1979 . * ''La Jordanie'', Presses universitaires de France, Paris, 1980 . * ''Les projets de paix arabo-israéliens'',

École des hautes études en sciences sociales The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (french: École des hautes études en sciences sociales; EHESS) is a graduate ''grande école'' and '' grand établissement'' in Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. The ...

, Paris, 1980 (thèse universitaire). * ''Le Proche-Orient à la recherche de la paix, 1973-1982'', Presses universitaires de France, Paris, 1982 . * With , ''Le Parti Ba'th'', École des hautes études en sciences sociales,

Louvain-la-Neuve Louvain-la-Neuve (, French for ''New Leuven''; wa, Li Noû Lovén) is a planned town in the municipality of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Wallonia, Belgium, situated 30 km southeast of Brussels, in the province of Walloon Brabant. The town was ...

, Centre de Recherches sur le monde arabe contemporain, 1984.

References

External links

Philippe Rondot
on ''

L'Express ''L'Express'' () is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''Réussir''. History ...

'' (31/12/2017)
Philippe Rondot, le général de l'ombre
on ''

Le Parisien ''Le Parisien'' (; French for "The Parisian") is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris and its suburbs. It is owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, better known as LVMH. Histor ...

'' (30/04/2006)
Affaire clearstream. Le passé roumain du général Rondot
on ''

Courrier International ''Courrier International'' ( French for "International Mail") is a Paris-based French weekly newspaper which translates and publishes excerpts of articles from over 900 international newspapers. It also has a Portuguese and a Japanese edition. '' ...

(10/07/2007)
Rhilippe Rondot : mort d'une légende
on ''

Le Point ''Le Point'' () is a French weekly political and news magazine published in Paris. History and profile ''Le Point'' was founded in September 1972 by a group of journalists who had, one year earlier, left the editorial team of '' L'Express'', w ...

'' (31/12/2017)
Il ne faut pas prendre le général Rondot pour un "berniche"
on ''

L'Obs (), previously known as (1964–2014), is a weekly French news magazine. Based in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, it is the most prominent French general information magazine in terms of audience and circulation. Its current editor is Cécil ...

'' (11/5/2011) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rondot, Philippe 1936 births 2017 deaths Military personnel from Nancy, France École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr alumni French generals French spies Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur