The General Directorate for Studies and Documentation (
French: Direction Générale des Études et de la Documentation, DGED) is the foreign
intelligence agency of
Morocco, under authority of the Administration for National Defense.[3] It is officially tasked with maintaining national security and the safety of national institutions.[4]
Following Dlimi's death, General Abdelhak El Kadiri headed the DGED until his retirement in 2001.[16] Following El Kadiri's retirement, Ahmed Harchi was appointed as the head of the DGED in July 2001.[17] 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.[7][5]
The DGED caused controversy following the
2003 Casablanca bombings for its help in the arrest and conviction of six high-ranking politicians in the
Justice and Development Party for complicity in the bombings.[18] A reporter for
Al-Manar, a TV station affiliated with
Hezbollah was also convicted under the same charges.[18]
In a 2009 interview, Mohammed Yassine Mansouri claimed that the spread of
Wahhabism and
Shia Islam by
Saudi Arabia and
Iran as a threat, claiming that both ideologies were aggressive.[18] In the same interview, Mansouri also claimed that
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb was seen a major threat by Morocco.[18]
In 2014, a Twitter account named @chris_coleman24, which was likely controlled by the French
DGSE,[19] leaked documents and emails between Moroccan consulates and the DGED,[20] the user claimed that their goal was to "destabilize Morocco".[21][22]Arrêt sur Images claimed that some of the documents leaked by the user were falsified.[23][24] Morocco's
Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused "pro-
Polisario organizations" with the complicity of the Algerian government of running the Twitter account.[24] Despite this,
Algérie Presse Service claims that the user was a "famous American hacker".[25]
The DGED states its official mission as "participating in maintaining the security of the kingdom, the state and its institutions".[1] According to a 2003 report by
Maroc Hebdo, the DGED has 4,000 employees total, 60% of which are members of the
Royal Armed Forces, the remaining being civilians.[32][1] According to the same report, 5% of DGED employees are women, and there are an estimated 250 to 300 agents abroad working for the DGED.[32][1] Mohamed Reda Taoujni, previous owner of the journal Assahra Al Ousbouiya, claimed that the DGED controlled his journal and had published articles to the journal and its online counterpart through pseudonyms.[33]
The DGED collaborates with foreign services in security and terrorism-related affairs, including exchange of information regarding specific Moroccans targeted by foreign services.[34]
According to
Ali Lmrabet, the DGED was reported to have staff in consulates and embassies of Morocco, hence benefiting from
diplomatic immunity.[35] Lmrabet adds that the DGED used journalists working for the
Maghreb Arabe Press as agents, and journalists were allegedly tasked with sending wires to the DGED containing information they gathered.[36]