The director of French military intelligence will leave his post, in particular because of his management of the war in Ukraine

General Éric Vidaud, director of French military intelligence, will leave his post, in particular because of his management of the war in Ukraine, franceinfo learned on Wednesday March 30 from a source familiar with the matter, confirming information from the newspaper Opinion. It was by an e-mail sent Wednesday that he announced the news of his early departure to his team. It had been only seven months since he had taken over the management of the military intelligence department (DRM), which reports to the general staff of the armies.

General Vidaud pays among other things, according to our information, for shortcomings. According to a source familiar with the matter, the army staff accuses him of “lack of mastery of subjects” and “insufficient briefings”. Before being appointed to head this direction during the summer of 2021, General Vidaud commanded French special operations (COS).

Both internally and externally, General Vidaud was criticized for shortcomings, lack of precision and investment. Ukraine brought it to light, but these criticisms dated from before, the contract for the Australian submarines lost in the fall, for example. But the DRM must be precise, the analyzes provided. Military intelligence has the upper hand over satellites, spy planes and ships, soldiers specializing in infiltration and human intelligence.

In a newspaper interview The world (paid article) almost a month ago, the Chief of the Defense Staff had regretted that the French analyzes on Ukraine did not have the level of the Americans. The Pentagon had planned the invasion to the day, “our services, lamented General Burkhard, rather thought that conquest would come at a monstrous cost to the Russians and that they had other options”.