At the specially composed Assize Court in Paris,
Patrick Calvar has already been at the helm of the specially composed Assize Court for almost 1h30 when a civil party lawyer questions him. “Tomorrow, a new November 13th, with everything you know, everything you can’t prevent, is it possible?” “Yes, it is possible”, answers without hesitation for a second the one who was between 2012 and 2017 at the head of the top secret DGSI, the internal intelligence service. Heard as a witness this Friday, the police commissioner, hair and salt, dressed in a dark suit, confided to the court his feeling of powerlessness to prevent the occurrence of this disastrous night which left 131 dead but also his fears. , still alive, that such a drama happens again.
If he does not hide his feeling of failure – “the primary mission for the services is to prevent the commission” of an attack – the one who has spent 25 years in the fight against terrorism is nevertheless convinced of this: the DGSI, despite its some 3,300 men and women, did not have sufficient means to prevent such an attack. In 2015, the situation was “apocalyptic”, “the threat came from everywhere”. 568 French are in “zone”, that is to say in Iraq or Syria, 247 have returned, 256 in transit and more than 700 have shown inclinations. It is also necessary to have an eye on the 141 presumed dead in combat, because experience has shown that several have tried to fake their deaths to deceive the vigilance of the intelligence services. In total, 9,000 people are listed “S” in France.
“They arrive on the 12th, they strike on the 13th, they have no base of fallback”
However, their means, notably legislative, are, in his eyes, limited. Until October 2015, when a new intelligence law will come into force, the services are governed by a 1991 text which only allows “recourse to human sources, telephone interceptions and connection data”. It is also impossible to authorize infiltration within networks, because no text exonerates those who could do so from responsibility. “If we had someone who agreed to work for us, with all the risks that were his, and who at one point could join a terrorist association, we would never have been able to judicially get him out of this case” , he explains, before attacking Frontex head-on, the European border control service, not sufficiently efficient in his eyes.
Patrick Calvar recognizes it, he “fell out of the cupboard” when he learned that Abdelhamid Abaaoud, one of the operational leaders of these attacks, was hiding in a “bush” near a highway slip road. after participating in the shootings on the terraces. At the helm, he nevertheless recalls that the scope of action of the DGSI is limited to the national territory. However, the attacks were planned and then organized from Syria and Belgium. “They arrive on the 12th, they strike on the 13th, they have no base of fallback, […] we therefore have no point of attachment. “
“If we want more security, we will have to bring in more technology”
But his speech this Friday is also political, far from the sole explanation of the action of his services. “The fight against the terrorist scourge is far from over. We will have to make a choice on our freedoms, hammered Patrick Calvar How far are we ready to alienate our freedom in order to have more security? Knowing that there is no such thing as zero risk. “
In his view, the fight against terrorism must imperatively go through an increased use of biometrics and the sharing of this data between the various services but also countries. “If we want more security, we will have to bring in more technology. It is possible, but we must accept more restrictions on our individual freedoms ”, he insists, while acknowledging that this debate, of society, does not really have its place before the Assize Court. specially composed.