|
Frenchelon
"Frenchelon" is the nickname given to the signal intelligence system operated by France. The name is a reference to its Anglo-American counterpart ECHELON. History Its existence has never been officially acknowledged by French authorities, although numerous journalists, based on military information, have mentioned it, since the European Parliament investigated ECHELON and also its implications in counter-terrorism. The term was coined by Kenneth Cukier, an American journalist living in Paris, in a paper presented at the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference in 1999, and later in an op-ed in ''The Wall Street Journal'' Europe edition. Operations The system is allegedly operated by DGSE, whose Direction Technique (Technical Direction) is responsible for signal intelligence. The largest station is in Domme, near Sarlat in Périgord. Some of the other stations in France are: Alluets-Feucherolles (Alluets-le-Roi), Mutzig (Alsace), Mont Valérien, Plateau d'Albion, Agd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenneth Cukier
Kenneth Neil Cukier (born 1968) is an American journalist and author of books on technology and society. He is best known for his work at ''The Economist'' and the book ''Big Data: A Revolution that Will Transform How We Work, Live and Think'', coauthored with Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2013. Career He has also written for ''The New York Times'', ''Financial Times'', ''Foreign Affairs'' and other publications. He was technology editor of the Wall Street Journal Asia edition in Hong Kong in 2001. In 1999 he coined the term "Frenchelon" to describe the French government's surveillance capabilities. Publications ''Big Data'' was a New York Times bestseller, translated into 21 languages and a finalist for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award. The pair published a follow-on work in 2014, ''Learning With Big Data: The Future of Education''. In 2021 Cukier published ''Framers: Human Advantage in an Age of Technolo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Réunion
Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the island of Madagascar and southwest of the island of Mauritius. , it had a population of 896,175. Its capital and largest city is Saint-Denis, La Réunion, Saint-Denis. Réunion was uninhabited until French immigrants and colonial subjects settled the island in the 17th century. Its tropical climate led to the development of a plantation economy focused primarily on sugar; slaves from East Africa were imported as fieldworkers, followed by Malays, Annamite, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Indians as indentured laborers. Today, the greatest proportion of the population is of mixed descent, while the predominant language is Réunion Creole, though French remains the sole official language. Since 1946, Réunion has been governed as a regions of France, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DGSE
The Directorate-General for External Security (, , DGSE) is France's foreign intelligence agency, equivalent to the British MI6 and the American CIA, established on 27 November 1943. The DGSE safeguards French national security through intelligence gathering and conducting paramilitary and counterintelligence operations abroad, as well as economic espionage. The service is currently headquartered in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, but construction has begun on a new headquarters at Fort Neuf de Vincennes, in Vincennes, on the eastern edge of Paris. The DGSE operates under the direction of the French Ministry of Armed Forces and works alongside its domestic counterpart, the DGSI (General Directorate for Internal Security). As with most other intelligence agencies, details of its operations and organization are classified and not made public. The DGSE follows a system which it refers to as LEDA. L stands for loyalty (loyauté), E stands for elevated standards (exigence), D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solenzara Air Base
Air Base 126 Solenzara () is a French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'air et de l'espace) (ALAE) base located in the village of Ventiseri approximately 40 km north-northeast of Porto-Vecchio on Corsica. It is just north of the mouth of the Travo River on the Tyrrhenian Sea. Today the Air Base is a NATO tactical training center. It hosts: * Escadron d'Hélicoptères 1/44 Solenzara with the Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma World War II During World War II the air base was constructed by the United States Army Air Force Twelfth Air Force XII Engineer Command as an all-weather temporary field built using Pierced Steel Planking for runways and parking areas, as well as for dispersal sites. In addition, tents were used for billeting and also for support facilities; an access road was built to the existing road infrastructure; a dump for supplies, ammunition, and gasoline drums, along with a drinkable water and minimal electrical grid for communications and station lighting. As ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kourou
Kourou (; ) is a commune in French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France in South America. Kourou is famous for being the location of the Guiana Space Centre, the main spaceport of France and the European Space Agency (ESA). It is an administrative district in French Guiana and the main town there. Geography Some northwest of the French Guianese capital Cayenne the Kourou River empties into the Atlantic Ocean. At the mouth of this river sits the town of Kourou, which is ringed by four hills: Carapa, Pariacabo, Café and Lombard, with the Singes and Condamine mountains not far behind. There are three lakes within the town's city limits: Lake Bois Diable (where one can take lessons in jetski and other aquatic sports), Lake Marie-Claire (the smallest and calmest), and Lake Bois Chaudat (the biggest of the three; also open to sport lovers, especially canoers and kayakers). Long white sand beaches and some rocky outcrops line the town's ocean coast, the riverbank ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mayotte
Mayotte ( ; , ; , ; , ), officially the Department of Mayotte (), is an Overseas France, overseas Overseas departments and regions of France, department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is one of the Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas departments of France as well as one of the 18 regions of France, with the same status as the departments of Metropolitan France. It is an Special member state territories and the European Union, outermost region of the European Union and, as an overseas department of France, part of the eurozone. Mayotte is located in the northern part of the Mozambique Channel in the western Indian Ocean off the coast of Southeast Africa, Southeastern Africa, between the northwestern part of the island of Madagascar and northeastern Mozambique on the continent. Mayotte consists of a main island, Grande-Terre (Mayotte), Grande-Terre (or Maore), a smaller island, Petite-Terre (or Pamanzi), as well as several islets arou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion (, also known simply as , "the Legion") is a corps of the French Army created to allow List of militaries that recruit foreigners, foreign nationals into French service. The Legion was founded in 1831 and today consists of several specialties, namely infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, and Airborne forces, airborne troops. It formed part of the Army of Africa (France), Armée d'Afrique, French Army units associated with French colonial empire, France's colonial project in North Africa, until the end of the Algerian War in 1962. Legionnaires are today renowned as highly trained soldiers whose training focuses on traditional military skills and on the Legion's strong ''Morale, esprit de corps'', as its men come from different countries with different cultures. Consequently, training is often described as not only physically challenging, but also very stressful psychologically. Legionnaires may apply for French citize ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Air And Space Force
The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the French Air Force (). On 10 September 2020, it assumed its current name, the French Air and Space Force, to reflect an "evolution of its mission" into the area of outer space. The number of aircraft in service with the French Air and Space Force varies depending on the source; the Ministry of Armed Forces gives a figure of 658 aircraft in 2014. According to 2025 data, this figure includes 207 combat aircraft: 99 Dassault Mirage 2000 and 108 Dassault Rafale. the French Air and Space Force employs a total of 40,500 regular personnel, with a reserve element of 5,187 in 2014. The Chief of Staff of the French Air and Space Force (CEMAAE) is a direct subordinate of the Chief of the Defence Staff (CEMA), a high-ranking military officer who in turn ans ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Combined Joint Task Force – Horn Of Africa
Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) is a joint task force of United States Africa Command (AFRICOM). The U.S. War on terror begun after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. In October 2002, headquarters elements of the Marine Corps was sent to establish the Task Force in Djibouti. It was initially directly responsible to United States Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa, Florida. The task force mission is to conduct operations within its Combined Joint Operations Area to enhance partner nation capacity, promote regional security and stability, dissuade conflict, and protect U.S. interests. It has become extensively involved in the Somali Civil War. CJTF-HOA consists of about 2,000 servicemen and women from the United States Department of Defense. In 2012, the task force had an assigned area of interest that included Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Seychelles and Kenya. Outside this area, the task force had operations in M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Camp Lemonnier
Camp Lemonnier is a United States Naval Expeditionary Base, situated next to Djibouti–Ambouli International Airport in Djibouti City, and home to the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). It is the largest List of United States military bases, U.S. military base in Africa. The camp is operated by U.S. Navy Region Europe, Africa, Central. The regional JSOC high-value-targets task force and CJTF-HOA were the most notable tenants as of 2012. Camp Émile Lemonnier, Lemonnier was originally established for the French Foreign Legion. The base was leased by Djibouti to the United States in 2002, along with the right to use the neighbouring airport and port facilities. The base supports CIA and DOD anti-terrorist operations in Yemen and Somalia (Copper Dune and Jupiter Garnet), at the centre of the network of U.S. drone and surveillance bases stretching across Africa. The latter air bases are smaller and operate from remote hangar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Djibouti (city)
Djibouti (also called Djibouti City and Jibuti in early Western texts) is the capital city of the Djibouti, Republic of Djibouti. It is located in the coastal Djibouti Region on the Gulf of Tadjoura. Djibouti has a population of around 780,000 inhabitants, which counts for 73% of the country's population. The settlement was founded in 1888 by the French, on land leased from the ruling Somali and Afar Sultans. During the ensuing period, it served as the capital of French Somaliland and its successor the French Territory of the Afars and Issas. History There is evidence of human settlement on the eastern coastline of Djibouti dating back to the Bronze Age. From 1862 until 1894, the land to the north of the Gulf of Tadjoura was called ''Obock'' and was ruled by Issa clan, Issa and Afar people, Afar Sultans, local authorities with whom France signed various treaties between 1883 and 1887 to first gain a foothold in the region.Raph Uwechue, ''Africa year book and who's who'', (Afr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
