"It surprises me that we could put the security of a president in a parallel circuit"

Placed in custody for violence against a demonstrator on May 1, Alexandre Benalla, chargé de mission to Emmanuel Macron's chief of staff, was entrusted with security and security service missions. with the president. "It surprises me that we could place the security of a president in a parallel circuit" commented on Saturday, July 21 on franceinfo Alain Le Caro, founder of the Security Group of the Presidency of the Republic (GSPR) in 1983.

franceinfo: You led the GSPR under François Mitterrand until 1988, did you deal with the president's advisers on security issues as Alexander Benalla seemed to do?

Alain The Caro : No, fortunately not! It was complicated enough because we had to move into the official travel department, which had been in place for several presidents. Our mission was to ensure the personal safety of the president with a group from the GIGN. The GIGN was chosen for the sake of efficiency in the fight against terrorism, but also for the confidentiality and discretion to have around the second mission entrusted to us, namely the protection of a state secret – the second family of the president and his illness. Fortunately, we did not have to deal with this kind of phenomenon, which could have come to interfere in the execution of our missions.

Does it surprise you that a character like Alexandre Benalla found himself in this situation?

Absolutely. It surprises me a lot that we have been able to place the security of a president in a parallel circuit, which comes to interfere in the official security services, be it the police or the gendarmerie. What surprises me is that he may have had to deal with decisions about the safety of the president. One can well imagine that he knew the organization of the trips, since he was badistant to the chef de cabinet and that as such, he could have to know safety devices. But never, in any case, having to interfere in the very organization of security.

After your departure, do you know if there were other wills of the Élysée to take again the hand on the action of the GSPR, or is it a first?

There was certainly a desire to regain control of the action of the GSPR and we had difficulty resisting the resumption of personal security of the president by the police, who had been removed from this mission. Legitimately, they tried to win her back. The security which depended on the official travel services of the time was linked to the Ministry of the Interior. And we at GSPR, we were accountable only to the president in person. We did not have to report to our hierarchy or the Ministry of the Interior. The GSPR then evolved and integrated both members of the GIGN and members of the national police. They fell back under the auspices of the Department of the Interior.