Espionage: at the Paris Air Show, "it is clear that people are coming to seek intelligence"

How could one recognize a foreign officer strolling through Paris on Sunday, June 15, before the opening of the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget? By the label attached to his backpack with his rank, first name, last name, and contact information. Enough to steal his identity or be tempted to steal his entry badge or, better, feign pickpocketing to install a bug on his computer and access his country's top-secret network. And then make sure that the absent-minded major has indeed recovered his bag, relieved of the cash, and that, relieved to get off so lightly, he keeps the anecdote quiet.

Yet "Mind your belongings" is one of the mantras in the fight against espionage and foreign interference, while equipment theft is a rapidly increasing phenomenon, including among personnel of the French Ministry of the Armed Forces. Electronic devices can be resold to criminal groups that work as subcontractors for a state or who, opportunistically, auction them off for the purposes of sabotage, economic espionage, or subversion. Public days, with 160,000 visitors expected this weekend, are particularly high risk.

"Arms shows are the site of all threats. Exhibitors and visitors try to gather information. The space and aeronautics sectors are the first to be targeted. So it was at Le Bourget that