The DGED was created on January 12, 1973 under a
Royal Dahir, in the aftermath of two failed coups against
Hassan II. It was modeled after the now-defunct French
Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage. The directorate was run by
Ahmed Dlimi until his death in 1983. During Dlimi's tenure, the DGED was part of an intelligence alliance dubbed the
Safari Club. During this time, the DGED provided funding and weapons to the Angolan
UNITA rebels in 1978. Following Dlimi's death, General Abdelhak El Kadiri headed the DGED until his retirement in 2001. Following El Kadiri's retirement, Ahmed Harchi was appointed as the head of the DGED in July 2001. Mohammed Yassine Mansouri named the general director of the DGED by King Mohammed VI on February 14, 2005, becoming the first civilian to hold the title. A reporter for
Al-Manar, a TV station affiliated with
Hezbollah was also convicted under the same charges. leaked documents and emails between Moroccan consulates and the DGED, the user claimed that their goal was to "destabilize Morocco".
Arrêt sur Images claimed that some of the documents leaked by the user were falsified. Morocco's
Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused "pro-
Polisario organizations" with the complicity of the Algerian government of running the Twitter account. In 2017, the French
IGPN arrested an officer of the
French Border Police for allegedly giving the DGED files on up to 200 people marked under a
Fiche S, France's indicator for people deemed a threat to national security. In 2021, the IGPN claimed that members of the DGED had infiltrated the
French Council of the Muslim Faith. In 2022, the DGED was caught in
a scandal involving its agents infiltrating the
European Parliament. Since 2020, the DGED has been involved in mediation between Western governments and anti-French
Alliance of Sahel States juntas. The DGED also maintains contacts with militia groups in the region and is involved in rescuing Western hostages from the Sahel. In 2022, the DGED played a key role in rescuing German Jörg Lange from ISIS sympathizers in Niger. In 2023, the DGED was involved in rescuing Romanian citizen Iulian Ghergut from al-Qaeda sympathizers in Burkina Faso. In 2024, the DGED was involved in talks with the Nigerien junta to free former president
Mohamed Bazoum. In 2024, the DGED was involved in freeing four agents for the French DGSE from Burkina Faso. In exchange for the agents' release, the DGED provided funding and equipment to the Burkinabé
National Intelligence Agency. In 2025, the DGED helped the Nigerien government track
Boko Haram leader
Bakura Doro, who was reported dead after a drone strike. The DGED is reported to be collaborating with the
Puntland Intelligence Security Agency. The DGED is also a key foreign partner and interlocutor of the Ivory Coast's External Services Directorate. ==Directors==