ce communities with representatives of the DST and the SDECE labelling Prouteau and his group as, "a bunch of cowboys." Mitterrand had long been a critic of France's intelligence organisations and openly criticised them at every opportunity. Another surprising appointment occurred when the head of the SDECE, Count Alexandre de Marenches was asked to step down. In his place, Mitterrand appointed Pierre Marion, a former leader of the French Action Service, the organisation that had successfully infiltrated other terrorist groups and had marked several prominent terrorists for "neutralisation." Action Service was also believed to have been responsible for hundreds of "officially sanctioned" murders including the attack on the Greenpeace ship "Rainbow Warrior." The SDECE was also renamed the DGSE. With his newest Presidential appointment, Marion was now being given the "green light" to track down and eliminate other "targets of opportunity" within the terrorist community. In a later meeting with the President, Marion submitted his "death-list" of over a dozen names for Mitterrand's approval. When the meeting was over, Marion left the Elysee Palace with authorisation to kill only two terrorists, Abu Nidal and Carlos. In December 1982, as Marion was laying his plans, John Siddel, the head of the CIA's Paris station was calling a meeting with the new head of the DST, Yves Bonnet. The reason for the meeting was to discuss the latest intelligence regarding the whereabouts of Carlos. According to Siddel, the CIA had established a connection with a reliable Syrian informant who insisted that Carlos was hiding out in Damascus and was making plans to travel to the Swiss resort of Gstaad. Siddel gave Bonnet the name of the hotel where Carlos would be staying, his planned date of arrival and suggested that the DST might like to intercept him. When Bonnet relayed the information to his superior, Interior Minister Deferre, he was surprised at t...
