In the 1970s, French intelligence services obtained US and Soviet plans to sell fighter aircraft to India. Armed with this information, Mirage of France won a huge contract from New Delhi. The French also claim success in previous attempts at economic espionage. In 1993, the Count de Marenches, former head of French intelligence, claimed in his memoirs that French agents uncovered advance information that the Nixon administration would devalue the dollar in 1971. France made a handsome profit speculating against the US currency.
French efforts continue today.
The Intelligence Newsletter reported that Most of those who spoke at the seminar identified the US as both the main adversary in the war and the best model of how it is fought. The French Center of Foreign Trade recently created a new economic intelligence office, codenamed R31. The office will supply information to a new interagency group, the Comit pour la Competitivit et la Securit Economique, formed in April by then Prime Minister Edouard Balladur. The committee, chaired by Jean Arthuis, minister for economic planning and development, will use information gleaned from both French intelligence services and French business people. The Australians as well are improving their intelligence capabilities.