Pierre Brochand was Director General of the DGSE ( Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure  ) from 2002 to 2008 . The DGSE is France's foreign intelligence arm , incorporating both human and technical intelligence , in effect the counterpart of Britain's MI6 and GCHQ or of America's CIA and NSA combined .

In this capacity , P.Brochand had unparalleled responsibility for researching and dealing with counter-terrorism matters ( the rise and decline of Al Quaida , the emergence of the Islamic state , the expansion in the Sahel region , hostage-taking ,etc...) , in addition to the proliferation of weapons of mass production ( Iran and others ) . His brief also covered dissecting and handling major international crises on behalf of the French government : wars in Iraq and Afghanistan , various crises on the African continent , upheavals in Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories , as well as conflicts in the Caucasus .

His career began as a professional diplomat which on many occasions found him in key postings at decisive moments : Saigon and its fall at the end of the Vietnam war , Bangkok with responsibility for neighbouring Cambodia then under the Khmers Rouges , San Francisco as Silicon Valley took off , Budapest at the time of the transition to democracy immediately after the fall of the Iron Curtain , Israel between the Oslo accords and the assassination of I.Rabin . In Paris , he was appointed as deputy-director for Asia ( during the soviet war in Afghanistan ) and subsequently as Director General for French cultural , scientific and technical cooperation world-wide . 

P.Brochand was involved in the drafting of two governments White Papers on terrorism ( 2005 ) and national defence ( 2007 ) . At the request of the President of the Republic , he wrote an unpublished report entitled "The impact of globalisation on French security" ( 2009 ) .

He spent his military service in Cameroon where he taught economics at the University of Yaounde and at the "École camerounaise d'administration".

This broad array of postings , dealing with a wide range of issues , has enabled P.Brochand to accumulate a rare and unusually rich insight into international affairs . As a result of this past experience , coupled with his continuing analysis of world events , he is interested as a speaker in providing incisive  analyses and commentaries while replacing issues in a wider context .

Among the subjects he would be ready to approach are those pertaining to current events : terrorism , Jihadism , political Islam , crises in the Middle East , major geopolitical challenges , the evolving role of the West , etc...

Pierre Brochand is a former graduate of the "Ecole nationale d'administration" ( ENA ) in addition to the "École des Hautes Études Commerciales" ( HEC ) in Paris . He also holds a BA in economics from the University of Paris and is an alumnus of the "Institut d'études politiques de Paris" ( "Sciences Po" ) .

In 2004 , he was awarded the highest diplomatic rank of "Ambassadeur de France" .