Nicolas Lerner

Nicolas Lerner, born June 29, 1978, in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, is a senior French civil servant.

Nicolas Lerner
Born	(1978-06-29) June 29, 1978 (age 47) Paris, France

He served as Director General of Internal Security at DGSI from 2018 to 2024. On December 20, 2023, he was appointed by the Council of Ministers as General Director of Directorate General for External Security, DGSE, effective January 9, 2024.

Career

In 2018, while Deputy Director at the Ministry of the Interior, he was appointed head of the Directorate General of Internal Security (DGSI).^[1] He then became the youngest head of French internal intelligence, at the age of 40.

He was appointed Director General of External Security (DGSE), effective January 9, 2024^{[2] [3] [4] [5] [6]} with the mission, in particular, of modernizing this service.^[7]
He is reported as having a keen interest for Africa,^[8] as well as the Middle East.^[9]

He was at the center of a controversy in 2025. He was accused by Telegram founder Pavel Durov of having interfered with the Romanian presidential elections by asking him to suppress certain "conservative" messages and by traveling to Romania a few days before the second round.^[10] Pavel Durov didn't provide any proof to sustain either of these accusations.^[11] These fake news^[12] were rejected by the Romanian Foreign Intelligence Service, calling them "attempts at manipulation and disinformation",^[13] and by French DGSE.^[12]