Claude Moniquet

Claude Moniquet (born 3 March 1958 in Brussels, Belgium) is a French journalist, author, security analyst and former intelligence officer. He began his career as a journalist specialising in international affairs and conflicts, particularly Eastern Europe and Poland, and later worked for publications including L'Express and Le Quotidien de Paris.

According to published profiles and interviews, Moniquet was recruited by the French Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE) in the 1980s and worked under journalistic cover as a clandestine field operative in several regions, including Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, the Balkans, the Middle East and North Africa. He has said that he ended his intelligence activities in the early 2000s.

In 2002, Moniquet co-founded the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center (ESISC), a private strategic intelligence and security consultancy based in Brussels, and became one of its principal directors.

Early life

Moniquet was born in Brussels to a Belgian father and a French mother. He has described having been politically active on the far left during his youth before later moving towards positions he describes as being on the political right.

In his twenties, he spent a period living in Israel, including time on a kibbutz.

Journalism

Moniquet began his professional career as a journalist and specialised in international conflicts, Eastern Europe and security issues. His journalistic work included reporting and analysis on Poland and other countries behind the Iron Curtain during the late Cold War.

He worked with French publications including L'Express and Le Quotidien de Paris. He also collaborated with Belgian media and later became a commentator on international security, terrorism and intelligence for French- and Belgian-language broadcasters.

According to profiles published about him, his journalistic work continued in parallel with his intelligence activities for a number of years. This dual career was particularly associated with his reporting on Eastern Europe and conflict zones, which also provided him with contacts and access useful to intelligence work.

Intelligence career

Published interviews and profiles describe Moniquet as having been recruited by the DGSE in the 1980s because of his contacts in Poland. He subsequently worked as a clandestine intelligence operative while maintaining his journalistic cover.

His former operational areas have been described as including Eastern Europe during the final years of the Cold War, the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia, the wars in the former Yugoslavia, the Middle East and North Africa.

Moniquet has described his intelligence career in interviews and in his writings. In the early 2000s he left active intelligence work and moved into private-sector strategic intelligence and security consulting.

Because the French government does not publicly confirm most individual operational histories of intelligence officers, accounts of Moniquet's DGSE service are primarily based on his own statements and published journalistic profiles rather than official DGSE records.

European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center

In 2002, Moniquet co-founded the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center (ESISC), a Brussels-based organisation focused on strategic analysis, intelligence, security and geopolitical issues.

Under Moniquet's leadership, ESISC produced reports and commentary on subjects including terrorism, political risk, international security, jihadist movements and geopolitical conflicts. Moniquet also used the organisation as a platform for publishing books and analyses related to intelligence and counterterrorism.

ESISC's publications list includes works by Moniquet on terrorism, jihadism, intelligence and Middle Eastern affairs, as well as books co-authored with Genovefa Etienne.

Media and security analysis

Following his intelligence career, Moniquet became a regular media commentator on terrorism, intelligence, counterterrorism and international security. He worked as a consultant on intelligence and terrorism for CNN between 2001 and 2004 and subsequently appeared as a commentator on French and Belgian television and radio.

He has been described in Belgian media as a specialist in security and defence and has regularly commented on terrorist attacks and security operations in Europe and the Middle East.

His public commentary has at times attracted criticism. Belgian media have pointed to instances in which statements he made about counterterrorism investigations were later contradicted by subsequent developments, particularly during the investigation into Salah Abdeslam after the November 2015 Paris attacks.

Political activity

In March 2019, Moniquet was selected as the lead candidate of the Listes Destexhe in the 2019 Belgian regional election in the Brussels-Capital Region. The list was associated with former MR politician Alain Destexhe and occupied a position to the right of the MR.

The Destexhe List failed to win a seat in the Brussels Parliament in the 2019 election.

Azerbaijan-related controversy

Moniquet and ESISC have been the subject of criticism concerning their activities relating to Azerbaijan and the country's international lobbying efforts. A 2017 report by the Freedom Files Analytical Centre, published through the Civic Solidarity Platform, identified Moniquet among individuals associated with efforts to promote Azerbaijani interests in Europe and discussed payments and other forms of influence connected with Azerbaijani lobbying.

The broader Azerbaijani lobbying campaign described in reports about so-called caviar diplomacy has involved allegations that European politicians and public figures were cultivated through gifts, political access and other benefits. Freedom House has described such practices as part of Azerbaijan's long-running international lobbying campaign.

Because allegations concerning payments or political influence are contested and concern specific actors and organisations, they should be attributed to the reporting sources rather than presented as established facts without qualification.

Books and publications

Moniquet has written extensively on intelligence, terrorism, jihadism, international security and geopolitical conflicts. His bibliography includes both nonfiction books and works produced in collaboration with other authors.

Selected works include:

• Histoire des Juifs soviétiques (1989)
• Touvier, un milicien à l'ombre de l'Église (1989)
• Histoire de l'espionnage mondial, Tome I (2000), with Genovefa Etienne
• Histoire de l'espionnage mondial, Tome II (2002), with Genovefa Etienne
• La Guerre sans visage (2002)
• Le Djihad : histoire secrète des hommes et des réseaux en Belgique (2004)
• Djihad et islamisme en Belgique (2005)
• Gaza : le grand mensonge (2009)
• L'Iran : un État terroriste ? (2011)
• Guerre secrète (2011)
• Printemps arabe, printemps pourri (2012)
• Néo-djihadistes : Ils sont parmi nous (2013)
• Djihad : d'Al-Qaida à l'État islamique, combattre et comprendre (2015)
• Jihad in België (2015)
• Les services secrets pour les Nuls (2016), with Genovefa Etienne
• Daech : la main du diable (2016)
• Deux hommes en guerre (2017–2018), with Stephen Desberg

ESISC's own bibliography records these publications and dates, including Daech : la main du diable, Les services secrets pour les Nuls, Djihad : d'Al-Qaida à l'État islamique and Guerre secrète.

Daech : la main du diable, published in 2016, examines the organisation known as Islamic State and the attacks in Paris and Brussels in 2015 and 2016.

See also

• Directorate-General for External Security
• European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center
• Listes Destexhe
• Caviar diplomacy
• Belgian politics