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General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance
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General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance
The General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance (Arabic: المديرية العامة لمراقبة التراب الوطني; Tamazight: ⵜⴰⵎⵀⵍⴰ ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵜⴰⵢⵜ ⵏ ⵓⵎⴰⵜⵔ ⵏ ⵡⴰⴽⴰⵍ ⴰⵏⴰⵎⵓⵔ; French: Direction Général de Surveillance du Térritoire; DGST) is the civilian domestic intelligence service of Morocco. It is tasked with the monitoring and anticipation of potentially subversive domestic activities.
Since 2005, the DGST is led by Abdellatif Hammouchi, who also runs the country's national police force, the Sûreté Nationale (DGSN).
The DGST was previously known as the Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire (DST).
The DGST is under the administrative supervision of the Ministry of Interior and specializes in counter-espionage, counter-terrorism, and protection of economic and scientific assets. It has a number of central services, led by the Cabinet of the Director-General, alongside a number of territorial brigades which constitute local representations of the DGST across the country and within some government departments. The DGST also has a special forces unit, the Rapid Intervention Group (GIR), which intervenes in counter-terrorism raids.
The Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (French: Bureau central d'investigations judiciaires, BCIJ; known colloquially as the Moroccan FBI) is the law enforcement branch of the DGST. Based in Salé, it was founded in 2015 pursuant to a law passed following the 2011 Marrakesh bombing which gave officers of the DGST the same legal status as police officers. The BCIJ is subordinate to the DGST but under the supervision of the Public Prosecutor's Office.
The BCIJ has an elite counter-terrorism unit led by the DGST as well as a unit fighting organized crime under the supervision of the DGSN's National Judicial Police Brigade (BNPJ). The first chief of the BCIJ, Abdelhak Khiame, was chargé de mission at the Cabinet of the Director-General. In 2021, the BCIJ announced that they dismantled 86 terrorist cells, arresting 1,386 people since its creation in 2015.
The Police for Radio Communications (French: Police des communications radioélectriques, PCR), colloquially known as the "radio center", is the DGST's signal intelligence (SIGINT) directorate. The directorate intercepts thousands of communications per day, including phone calls, text messages, faxes, and e-mails.
The PCR was founded in the 1960s under King Hassan II to help mitigate coup d'états against his rule. The DST sought American expertise to reform the PCR for Internet surveillance following the 2003 Casablanca attacks. In July 2008, twenty members of Morocco's House of Councillors were arrested and found guilty of corruption following intelligence supplied by the DST from intercepted phone calls by the PCR.
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General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance
The General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance (Arabic: المديرية العامة لمراقبة التراب الوطني; Tamazight: ⵜⴰⵎⵀⵍⴰ ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵜⴰⵢⵜ ⵏ ⵓⵎⴰⵜⵔ ⵏ ⵡⴰⴽⴰⵍ ⴰⵏⴰⵎⵓⵔ; French: Direction Général de Surveillance du Térritoire; DGST) is the civilian domestic intelligence service of Morocco. It is tasked with the monitoring and anticipation of potentially subversive domestic activities.
Since 2005, the DGST is led by Abdellatif Hammouchi, who also runs the country's national police force, the Sûreté Nationale (DGSN).
The DGST was previously known as the Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire (DST).
The DGST is under the administrative supervision of the Ministry of Interior and specializes in counter-espionage, counter-terrorism, and protection of economic and scientific assets. It has a number of central services, led by the Cabinet of the Director-General, alongside a number of territorial brigades which constitute local representations of the DGST across the country and within some government departments. The DGST also has a special forces unit, the Rapid Intervention Group (GIR), which intervenes in counter-terrorism raids.
The Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (French: Bureau central d'investigations judiciaires, BCIJ; known colloquially as the Moroccan FBI) is the law enforcement branch of the DGST. Based in Salé, it was founded in 2015 pursuant to a law passed following the 2011 Marrakesh bombing which gave officers of the DGST the same legal status as police officers. The BCIJ is subordinate to the DGST but under the supervision of the Public Prosecutor's Office.
The BCIJ has an elite counter-terrorism unit led by the DGST as well as a unit fighting organized crime under the supervision of the DGSN's National Judicial Police Brigade (BNPJ). The first chief of the BCIJ, Abdelhak Khiame, was chargé de mission at the Cabinet of the Director-General. In 2021, the BCIJ announced that they dismantled 86 terrorist cells, arresting 1,386 people since its creation in 2015.
The Police for Radio Communications (French: Police des communications radioélectriques, PCR), colloquially known as the "radio center", is the DGST's signal intelligence (SIGINT) directorate. The directorate intercepts thousands of communications per day, including phone calls, text messages, faxes, and e-mails.
The PCR was founded in the 1960s under King Hassan II to help mitigate coup d'états against his rule. The DST sought American expertise to reform the PCR for Internet surveillance following the 2003 Casablanca attacks. In July 2008, twenty members of Morocco's House of Councillors were arrested and found guilty of corruption following intelligence supplied by the DST from intercepted phone calls by the PCR.
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