Bernard Bajolet

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 Dombasle-sur-Meurthe, France
Alma mater	Sciences Po, ÉNA
Profession	Diplomat

Bernard Bajolet (born 21 May 1949) 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. 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.

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