La Correspondance économique

The Institut des Hautes Études de Défense Nationale (IHEDN), whose board of directors is chaired by French Ambassador Sylvie BERMANN and whose director is Lieutenant General Patrick DESTREMAU, is launching the recruitment of auditors for its next national session in 2021.

In addition to a common core curriculum offered to all of its 250 or so students, this new national session will include 5 specific majors: a "Defence Policy" major, an "Armaments and Defence Economics" major, a "Maritime Issues and Strategies" major, a "Digital Sovereignty and Cybersecurity" major, and a brand new "Defence and Economic Security" major.

Aimed at senior managers from various sectors of the economic world directly concerned by issues of economic intelligence and security, senior executives from the private sector and company directors, senior civil servants and military officers, as well as leading figures from the world of politics, academia and the media, the DSE major will welcome 40 students from different spheres of activity in September. These high-level managers will share their experience and expertise, and will engage in "strategic reflection on the means to be implemented to optimise economic security throughout France and internationally".

The new "Defence and Economic Security" major will therefore offer its students the opportunity to examine the policies and measures that need to be implemented to protect and promote the strategic interests of France and its companies, based on one observation: tougher competitive practices and the rise of economic nationalism are forcing the State and companies in strategic sectors to "protect our technological heritage and know-how", in particular by "implementing security measures adapted to the new threats", while attacks on economic security are proliferating in a variety of forms, and "global interdependence is increasing the risks of loss of control and the weakening of sovereignty".

The training offered to auditors will include 8 specific modules: "New technological frontiers"; "Strategic autonomy and economic security"; "Digital sovereignty"; "Legal issues"; "Specificity of the French Defence Technological and Industrial Base (DTIB)"; "Threats and sources of destabilisation"; "Territorial deployment of economic security policy"; and "Economic intelligence".
Registrations close on 28 February. Selection interviews will take place between March and June. The list of successful candidates will be published in the Official Journal in the first half of July.