Bernard Bajolet

French diplomat and civil servant

Bernard Bajolet


Director of the Directorate-General for External Security
In office 10 April 2013 – 20 May 2017
President	François Hollande

Personal details
Born	(1949-05-21) 21 May 1949 (age 75) Dombasle-sur-Meurthe, France
Alma mater	Sciences Po, ÉNA
Profession	Diplomat

Bernard Bajolet (born 21 May 1949)^[1] is a French diplomat and civil servant. On 10 April 2013 he was appointed as head of the French secret service, the Directorate-General for External Security (Direction générale des services extérieurs). He was the French Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2011 to 2013.

Early life

Bajolet was born in 1949 at Dombasle-sur-Meurthe and went to Lycée Henri Poincaré in Nancy, France.^[1] He then studied at Paris' Sciences Po, and graduated from the École nationale d'administration in 1975. That same year he joined the diplomatic service.^[1]

On October 18, 2022, Bernard Bajolet is indicted for "complicity in attempted extortion" and "arbitrary attack on individual freedom by a person holding public authority", against Alain Dumenil, a Franco-Swiss businessman who accuses the intelligence service of having used coercion to demand money from him in 2016.[1].

Diplomatic career

1975-1978: Deuxième Secrétaire and then Premier Secrétaire at Algiers
1978-1979: at the Administration centrale (Information and Press for European issues)
1979-1981: au Cabinet du Secrétaire d’Etat aux Affaires Etrangères, responsible for relations with the European Parliament
1981-1985: deuxième Conseiller at Rome
1985-1986: at Harvard University
1986-1990: deuxième Conseiller at Damascus
1991-1994: at the Administration Centrale, (Directeur Adjoint for North Africa and the Middle East)
1991: Special envoy to the Madrid Conference of 1991
1994-1998: French ambassador to Jordan
1999-2003: Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina
Sept. 2003-Aug. 2006: Chief of the section of French interests and then Ambassador to Iraq
Nov. 2006-2008: Ambassador and High Representative to Algeria
July 2008-Feb. 2011: coordinator of intelligence for President Nicolas Sarkozy as head of the Conseil national du renseignement
2011-2013: Ambassador to Afghanistan