Pierre Lacoste (23 January 1924 – 13 January 2020) was a French marine officer and government official. He served as President of the Fédération des professionnels de l'intelligence économique in 2006.

Biography

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Lacoste escaped

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

and joined the

Free French Forces __NOTOC__ The French Liberation Army (french: Armée française de la Libération or AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (french: Forces françaises libres, l ...

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

. He completed his education at the

École Navale École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

in 1946. In 1975, Lacoste was appointed as Assistant Minister of Defense, with

Yvon Bourges Yvon may refer to: * Yvon (given name), a masculine given name * Yvon (surname), a surname See also * Chapelle-Yvon * Evon * Ivon * Jaille-Yvon * Pierre-Yvon * Yvan Yvan is a given name. Notable people with the name include: * Jacques-Yvan Mor ...

at the helm. The following year, he led the École supérieure de guerre navale. In 1978, he headed the military office of Prime Minister

Raymond Barre Raymond Octave Joseph Barre (; 12 April 192425 August 2007) was a French centre-right politician and economist. He was a Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs under three presidents (Rey, ...

. In 1980, Lacoste commanded the Mediterranean Squadron. In 1982, Pierre Marion was dismissed as Director General of External Security by François Mitterrand. Lacoste took his place. He held this position from 12 November 1982 to 19 September 1985. In 1985, Lacoste commanded the sinking of the ''Rainbow Warrior'' in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Following this incident, Lacoste was dismissed as Director General. He was succeeded by René Imbot. In 2005, ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'' published a report on the ''Rainbow Warrior'' intended for the Minister of Defense André Giraud in which Lacoste recalls President Mitterrand giving the green light for the sinking. From 1986 to 1989, Lacoste presided over the Fondation des études de défense nationale. In 1989, he became President of the Défense - Armée - Nation Liaison of the Centre d'information civique. In 1993, he co-chaired the Centre d'études scientifiques de défense at the

University of Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée The Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée, or commonly known as UPEM, was a French university, in the . The main campus was located at Champs-sur-Marne. In 2020, UPEM merged with other facilities in the Descartes Campus to become Gustave Eiffe ...

where he taught a seminar on "French intelligence culture." He also created the lesson "Strategic Intelligence, Risk Analysis, Territories", which still exists today.

Awards

*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 ...

*Grand-Cross of the

Ordre national du Mérite The Ordre national du Mérite (; en, National Order of Merit) is a French order of merit with membership awarded by the President of the French Republic, founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle. The reason for the order's estab ...

Publications

*''Stratégies navales du présent'' (1986) *''Les mafias contre la démocratie'' (1992) *''Un amiral au secret'' (1997) *''Approches françaises du renseignement'' (1997) *''Le renseignement à la française'' (1998) *''Services secrets et géopolitique'' (2001) *''Défense nationale et sécurité collective, actualisation et renouvellement de la pensée stratégique'' (2006)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lacoste, Pierre 1924 births 2020 deaths Military personnel from Paris French Navy admirals