Yves Bonnet (; born 20 November 1935) is a senior French
civil servant
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...
and politician. He was prefect and director of the DST from 1982 to 1985. A member of the UDF, he served as deputy for the unified party from 1993 to 1997, before joining the
National Rally
The National Rally (, , RN), known as the National Front from 1972 to 2018 (, , FN), is a French far-right politics, far-right political party, described as right-wing populist and French nationalism, nationalist. It is the single largest Nat ...
Chartres
Chartres () is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir Departments of France, department in the Centre-Val de Loire Regions of France, region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 1 ...
,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. He is the son of
Henri Bonnet
Henri Bonnet (26 May 1888 Châteauponsac (Haute-Vienne) – 25 October 1978 Paris) was a French politician, diplomat, and List of French ambassadors to the United States, French ambassador to the United States from 1944 to 1954.
The son of J. Th ...
, Diplomat and former mayor of
Châteaudun
Châteaudun () is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It was the site of the Battle of Châteaudun during the Franco-Prussian War.
Geography
Châteaudun is located about 45 ...
. Yves Bonnet lived his childhood in this city, doing all his schooling there. He studied political science and graduated from the
Paris Institute of Political Studies
Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...
in the late 1950s. During the
Algerian war
The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...
, he was an officer of the contingent.
Career
He joined the prefectural body in 1958. Sub-prefect of La Trinité from 1968 to 1970,
Arles
Arles ( , , ; ; Classical ) is a coastal city and Communes of France, commune in the South of France, a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône Departments of France, department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Reg ...
from 1974 to 1976,
Cherbourg
Cherbourg is a former Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French departments of France, department of Manche. It was merged into the com ...
(1976–1978) and of
Dunkirk
Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...
(1978–1981), he was then appointed prefect of
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 departm ...
between January and of November 1982 and was appointed by President
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...
Director of the Direction de la surveillance du territoire.
As such, he took over the Farewell affair initiated by his predecessor Marcel Chalet. He advised the president to expel the intelligence officers from the Russian embassy in France, which is validated by Mitterrand. He is responsible for dismantling several terrorist networks. He also initiated relations with several Arab security and intelligence services, including Algerian Military Security, and doubled the number of foreign liaisons. It computerizes the central file of the DST.
He was appointed prefect of
Finistère
Finistère (, ; ) is a Departments of France, department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. Its prefecture is Quimper and its largest city is Brest, France, Brest. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.Guadeloupe region after the legislative elections of March 1986. He put an end to the activities of the independence organizations and had the members of the Caribbean Revolutionary Army (ARC) arrested.
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...
then found the highest growth rate of the overseas departments.
He became prefect of the Marne department and the
Champagne-Ardenne
Champagne-Ardenne () is a former administrative region of France, located in the northeast of the country, bordering Belgium. Mostly corresponding to the historic province of Champagne, the region is known for its sparkling white wine of the ...
region in 1987. He was one of the initiators of the re-opening of Vatry airport and the promoter of partnerships with several regions of eastern countries (the CEEC) notably those of
Oryol
Oryol ( rus, Орёл, , ɐˈrʲɵl, a=ru-Орёл.ogg, links=y, ), also transliterated as Orel or Oriol, is a Classification of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Oryol Oblast, Russia, situated on the Oka Rive ...
(in USSR),
Toruń
Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a World Heritage Sites of Poland, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–199 ...
(in Poland),
Piatra Neamț
Piatra Neamț (; ; ) is the capital city of Neamț County, in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in northeastern Romania. Because of its very privileged location in the Divisions of the Carpathians, Eastern Carpathian mountains, it is con ...
(in Romania),
Košice
Košice is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest cit ...
(in Slovakia) and
Schwerin
Schwerin (; Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch dialect, Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch Low German: ''Swerin''; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Zwierzyn''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Germ ...
(Mecklenburg-Vorpommern).
Yves Bonnet left his post as regional prefect to establish himself politically in Cherbourg, where he was an opposition municipal councilor representing the UDF.
He was the MP for Manche's 5th constituency between 1993 and 1997. In the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
National Rally
The National Rally (, , RN), known as the National Front from 1972 to 2018 (, , FN), is a French far-right politics, far-right political party, described as right-wing populist and French nationalism, nationalist. It is the single largest Nat ...
during the French regional elections on the list led by Nicolas Bay.
Works
He is the author of numerous books, ranging from investigative documents to spy novels, and regularly speaks in the press about Iranian and Middle Eastern issues and terrorism.
* ''La Liberté surveillée'', Thésaurus, 1993
* ''La Trahison des ayatollahs'', Jean Picollec, 1995
* ''Mission ou Démission'', Jean Picollec, 1996
* ''Contre-espionnage, mémoires d'un patron de la DST'', Calmann-Lévy, 1998
* ''Lettre à une Algérienne'', La Boite à documents, 1998
* ''De qui se moquent-ils ?'', Flammarion, 2001
* ''La Cour des miracles'', Flammarion, 2002
* ''Impondérables'', Calmann-Lévy, 2003, thriller
* ''Top Secret'', Timée Éditions, 2006
* ''Les Veuves blanches'', La société des écrivains, 2006, roman
* ''Tube'', Éditions Des Idées & Des Hommes, avril 2007, thriller
* ''Nucléaire iranien, une hypocrisie internationale'', Michel Lafon, 2008
* ''Liban : les otages du mensonge'', Michel Lafon, 2008
* ''Vevak, au service des ayatollahs'', Timée Éditions, April 2009
* ''Gaza, au cœur de la tragédie''avec Albert Farhat, Timée Éditions, June 2009
* ''Le Grand Complot'', Jean-Claude Gawsewitch Éditeur, 544 pages, 2012
* Le berger de Touggourt, Vérités sur les moines de Tibhirine, 2016
* ''La deuxième guerre d'Algérie'', VA éditions, March 2017