French military intel chief fired for failing to predict Russian war: Reports

By Shweta Desai

PARIS (AA) – France's military intelligence chief has been sacked for his lack of expertise and failure to warn before Russia launched a war in Ukraine, local media reported on Thursday.

Gen. Eric Vidaud, director of military intelligence, was informed by the armed forces chief of staff on Tuesday about his departure by summer, according to daily L’Opinion.

However, Vidaud instead announced his decision to quit immediately in an email to his team on Wednesday, FranceInfo reported.

Vidaud was appointed to the post seven months ago, where he was in charge of providing intelligence on France's national interests and security on conflict zones, terrorism developments, terror groups, satellites, submarines, and espionage among key areas of military intelligence.

He was reportedly criticized within the military for failing to anticipate major developments, providing insufficient briefings, and lacking expertise.

Defense Staff Chief Thierry Burkhard publicly admonished the intelligence services for failing to predict the Russian war.

“The Americans said the Russians were going to attack, they were right. Our services rather thought that the conquest of Ukraine would have a monstrous cost and that the Russians had other options,” he told Le Monde daily in a March 6 interview.

France only began to deploy military equipment and additional troops to support NATO operations in the Baltic states after Russia launched its attack on Ukraine on Feb. 24.