Romain Rouillard / Photo credit: LUDOVIC MARIN / POOL / AFP 6:20 a.m., March 1, 2024

On this Friday March 1st, the GIGN is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Specializing in high-risk operations, the elite unit of the national gendarmerie has built its reputation around spectacular interventions often linked to hostage-taking, sometimes of a terrorist nature.

But the GIGN has much broader prerogatives. 

The GIGN is entering its fifth decade.

This elite unit of the national gendarmerie, specialized in dangerous missions and crisis management, was created on March 1, 1974 and has carried out several significant interventions, from Loyada in 1976 to Ouvéa in 1988, including Marignane airport in 1994. More recently, the GIGN notably lent a hand to the RAID, during the assault on Dammartin-en-Goële in 2015, intended to neutralize the Kouachi brothers, guilty of the attack against

Charlie Hebdo

on January 9 of this year.

It was also the GIGN which was in charge during the negotiations with Radouane Lakdim, the murderer of Arnaud Beltrame in Trèbes in 2018, who was finally shot dead.

An attack for which seven defendants were sentenced to up to four years in prison. 

Terrorist attacks are precisely one of these particularly critical situations in which the intervention of the GIGN is often essential.

“These are missions in which we are the last chance,” summarizes Bernard Thellier, former negotiator within the elite unit.

Attacks which can also turn into hostage-taking, another specialty of the GIGN, which does not always rhyme with the use of firearms.

“90% of our missions are resolved through negotiation,” assures Bernard Thellier. 

Competent in case of kidnapping

Before intervening, the GIGN must first be alerted by what is called a “first responder”.

"It's the policeman or the gendarme who notices something. They are also the ones who take the most risks, because they are not protected and they are not trained like us. And they don't know "it's always dangerous", points out the former negotiator. 

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Once there, the GIGN draws on its experience gained through training.

"We have a sort of catalog, in training, which is enormous. And when we arrive on a mission, there is immediately something that reminds us of the training we did before. And as a result , the machine is set up quickly", indicates Bernard Thellier. 

The GIGN can also intervene in the event of kidnappings.

“We can come and lend a hand to the gendarmerie. We have techniques that allow us to find people more quickly,” indicates Bernard Thellier.

But also to intercept a prisoner who would have managed to escape.

"Once the gendarmes have located him, they call us and tell us 'this individual killed 6 a.m., we break the door and go get him.” 

Protection of the President of the Republic

Likewise, when an individual, holed up in his or her home, poses a risk to the safety of others, the GIGN can be deployed.

"In 2004, a soldier was entrenched with 64 tons of explosives. There were no direct hostages, but 64 tons is deadly within a 5km radius. So, we evacuated all the civilians around and three days of negotiations made it possible to bring this person to his senses,” recalls Bernard Thellier. 

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The services of the national gendarmerie intervention group can prove valuable in locating a serial killer, for example, who is operating within a defined area, while managing to escape the police forces.

“If we have located someone in a place, whether in a wooded area or in a town, the GIGN works in civilian clothes, is deployed in this town and can stay for a few days, carry out reconnaissance, searches, etc. We has special means, cameras, microphones and vehicles which allow us to observe without being seen", explains Bernard Thellier. 

The unit is also involved in the protection of the President of the Republic through the GSPR (Security Group of the Presidency of the Republic).

“The GIGN formed and supervised the GSPR which then became a different entity,” explains Christian Prouteau, founder of the first command of the GIGN.

Sidelined by Nicolas Sarkozy and his personal brigade, the GSPR once again became, under François Hollande, a protection unit for the president, alongside the national police. 

Intelligence and actions abroad

More discreetly, the GIGN has an intelligence section and has specific means to carry out these missions.

“When we have the feeling that certain small groups are trying to prepare actions, the GIGN is entrusted with observation missions with resources that not all field units have,” indicates Christian Prouteau. 

Finally, the GIGN's action extends abroad where it participates in training and shares the expertise of the national gendarmerie in war zones.

“We can do what we call technical competitions, that is to say bring in resources that other countries do not have, at their request,” explains Christian Prouteau.

The GIGN also ensures the security of all French embassies throughout the world.

The military even has an intervention capacity in the event that something happens there.

A prerogative made possible by the extraterritoriality of these embassies, considered as a piece of French territory, abroad.