Spotlight | China, France, Japan, Singapore, United States
All eyes on DGSE's move into Indo-Pacific

The Agencies' Gazette
'Advanced deterrence', Beijing in Myanmar, DGSE departure, ex-AIVD head, death of NSC figure

Appointments, reforms and the issues at stake: every Monday, Intelligence Online serves up snippets big and small from the global intelligence community.

France‘Advanced deterrence' under discussion since 2023

ChinaCCP sends agents to contain Myanmar rebels

FranceSenior DGSE India expert leaves for private sector

Netherlands/ItalyFormer AIVD head joins Dataflow Security board

RussiaPutin loses intelligence coordination architect

France
French foreign intel considers reducing number of overseas offices

Intelligence Online has learned that the French DGSE foreign intelligence agency will close or downsize some 10 overseas posts in mid-2026. Several of these offices are in Africa and Asia-Pacific.

Japan, United States
Behind the scenes of Japan's talks with US over NATO

Japan continues to redefine its strategy with regard to the regional security organisations that operate in Asia, while Joe Biden has definitively rejected any plans for Tokyo to join the transatlantic alliance.

Japan
Japan launches closed-door debate on nuclear strategy

Prime minister Fumio Kishida wants to start a new national discussion on Japan's military nuclear strategy, yet officials are sceptical of being able to find a common ground anytime soon.

France, Singapore
French external intelligence agency wants its South East Asia team in shipshape

Marc P.'s arrival in Singapore after six years serving as head of the DGSE's intelligence department should allow the service to ramp up its action in a highly strategic zone, one that it had largely ignored for years, as China places its pawns in South East Asia.

Australia, Japan, United States
Australia strengthens academic-security links with Indo-Pacific allies

The Australian defence ministry has asked a trilateral group of experts to look into harmonising AI capacities and norms between Australia, Japan and the US as part of a strategy to bolster security ties in the Indo-Pacific.

China, France, United States
The Brady case: France sways between two Indo-Pacific strategies

Academic research on the Chinese Communist Party has been increasingly feeding into the West's view of China. Asian diplomats have been following the work of New Zealand researcher Anne-Marie Brady to help them understand France's position in the Indo-Pacific.

India, Japan, South Korea
Prospect of NATO presence in Indo-Pacific region creates havoc in the Quad

Japan and South Korea believe that a NATO presence in the East would help counterbalance the influence of China and strengthen the credibility of the US's commitments in the region. India is against the idea, however, fearing that it could escalate the risk of military conflict.

France
Plans to strengthen French intelligence in the Indo-Pacific stalled

A French parliamentary report calls for both the development of new air and space intelligence capabilities and increased cooperation in this area with France's allies in the Indo-Pacific. But with no change to its capacity and its attention caught up in the Russian offensive in Ukraine, these plans look set to be stunted in the short term.