Yves Bonnet (born 20 November 1935) is a senior French civil servant and politician. He was prefect and director of the

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 ...

from 1982 to 1985. A member of the UDF, he served as deputy for the unified party from 1993 to 1997, before joining the National Rally during the regional elections of 2021.

Early life

Yves Bonnet was born on November 20, 1935, in Chartres,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. He is the son of

Henri Bonnet Henri Bonnet (26 May 1888 Châteauponsac ( Haute-Vienne) – 25 October 1978 Paris) was a French politician, diplomat, and French ambassador to the United States from 1944 to 1954. The son of J. Th. and Marie Thérèse (Lascoux) Bonnet; he was ...

, Diplomat and former mayor of Châteaudun. Yves Bonnet lived his childhood in this city, doing all his schooling there. He studied political science and graduated from the

Paris Institute of Political Studies , motto_lang = fr , mottoeng = Roots of the Future , type = Public research university''Grande école'' , established = , founder = Émile Boutmy , accreditation ...

in the late 1950s. During the Algerian war, he was an officer of the contingent.

Career

He joined the prefectural body in 1958. Sub-prefect of La Trinité from 1968 to 1970,

Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...

from 1974 to 1976, Cherbourg (1976-1978) and of Dunkirk (1978-1981), he was then appointed prefect of

Mayotte Mayotte (; french: Mayotte, ; Shimaore: ''Maore'', ; Kibushi: ''Maori'', ), officially the Department of Mayotte (french: Département de Mayotte), is an overseas department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is loca ...

between January and of November 1982 and was appointed by President François Mitterrand Director of the

Direction de la surveillance du territoire The Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire (DST; en, Directorate of Territorial Surveillance) was a directorate of the French National Police operating as a domestic intelligence agency. It was responsible for counterespionage, counterterro ...

. As such, he took over the Farewell affair initiated by his predecessor Marcel Chalet. He advised the president to expel the intelligence officers from the Russian embassy in France, which is validated by Mitterrand. He is responsible for dismantling several terrorist networks. He also initiated relations with several Arab security and intelligence services, including Algerian Military Security, and doubled the number of foreign liaisons. It computerizes the central file of the DST. He was appointed prefect of

Finistère Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.

on August 1, 1985, then prefect of the

Guadeloupe region The dependencies of Guadeloupe are three islands or island groups in the Leeward Islands chain which are administratively part of the neighboring French overseas department of Guadeloupe in the French Lesser Antilles. They are nearby island entitie ...

after the legislative elections of March 1986. He put an end to the activities of the independence organizations and had the members of the Caribbean Revolutionary Army (ARC) arrested. Guadeloupe then found the highest growth rate of the overseas departments. He became prefect of the

Marne Marne can refer to: Places France *Marne (river), a tributary of the Seine *Marne (department), a département in northeastern France named after the river * La Marne, a commune in western France *Marne, a legislative constituency (France) Nethe ...

department and the

Champagne-Ardenne Champagne-Ardenne () is a former administrative region of France, located in the northeast of the country, bordering Belgium. Mostly corresponding to the historic province of Champagne, the region is known for its sparkling white wine of th ...

region in 1987. He was one of the initiators of the re-opening of Vatry airport and the promoter of partnerships with several regions of eastern countries (the CEEC) notably those of Oryol (in USSR),

Toruń )'' , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_flag = POL Toruń flag.svg , image_shield = POL Toruń COA.svg , nickname = City of Angels, Gingerbread city, Copernicus Town , pushpin_map = Kuyavian-Pom ...

(in Poland), Piatra Neamț (in Romania), Košice (in Slovakia) and

Schwerin Schwerin (; Mecklenburgian Low German: ''Swerin''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the capital and second-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as well as of the region of Mecklenburg, after Rostock. It ...

(Mecklenburg-Vorpommern). Yves Bonnet left his post as regional prefect to establish himself politically in Cherbourg, where he was an opposition municipal councilor representing the UDF. He was the MP for Manche's 5th constituency between 1993 and 1997. In the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

, he was a member of the National Defence and Armed Forces Committee as well as rapporteur for the navy budget. In 2021, he joined the National Rally during the French regional elections on the list led by

Nicolas Bay Nicolas Bay (born 21 December 1977) is a French politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from France. He served as General Secretary of the National Front from 2014 to 2017. He has served as a Regional Councillor for Normandy si ...

Works

He is the author of numerous books, ranging from investigative documents to spy novels, and regularly speaks in the press about Iranian and Middle Eastern issues and terrorism. * ''La Liberté surveillée'', Thésaurus, 1993 * ''La Trahison des ayatollahs'', Jean Picollec, 1995 * ''Mission ou Démission'', Jean Picollec, 1996 * ''Contre-espionnage, mémoires d'un patron de la DST'', Calmann-Lévy, 1998 * ''Lettre à une Algérienne'', La Boite à documents, 1998 * ''De qui se moquent-ils ?'', Flammarion, 2001 * ''La Cour des miracles'', Flammarion, 2002 * ''Impondérables'', Calmann-Lévy, 2003, thriller * ''Top Secret'', Timée Éditions, 2006 * ''Les Veuves blanches'', La société des écrivains, 2006, roman * ''Tube'', Éditions Des Idées & Des Hommes, avril 2007, thriller * ''Nucléaire iranien, une hypocrisie internationale'', Michel Lafon, 2008 * ''Liban : les otages du mensonge'', Michel Lafon, 2008 * ''Vevak, au service des ayatollahs'', Timée Éditions, April 2009 * ''Gaza, au cœur de la tragédie''avec Albert Farhat, Timée Éditions, June 2009 * ''Le Grand Complot'', Jean-Claude Gawsewitch Éditeur, 544 pages, 2012 * Le berger de Touggourt, Vérités sur les moines de Tibhirine, 2016 * ''La deuxième guerre d'Algérie'', VA éditions, March 2017

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonnet, Yves 1935 births Writers from Chartres Sciences Po alumni Prefects of Guadeloupe Prefects of Mayotte Prefects of Finistère Prefects of Marne (department) Deputies of the 10th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic People of the Algerian War Union for French Democracy politicians Living people