François de Grossouvre (29 March 1918 – 7 April 1994) was a French politician who was appointed in 1981 by the newly elected President François Mitterrand with the tasks of overseeing national security and other sensitive matters, particularly those concerning Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia, Morocco, Gabon, the Persian Gulf countries, Pakistan and both Koreas.

He was also in charge of the French branch of Operation Gladio, the stay-behind paramilitary secret armies created by NATO during the Cold War.

[4] According to the former SDECE agent Louis Mouchon, "His business, the A. Berger et Cie Sugar company, offered ample opportunities to stage fronts.

According to his obituary in The Economist, "He was recruited into the French espionage service and helped to organise Gladio, an American backed plan to create an armed resistance movement in Western Europe against a Russian invasion."

Along with Italian collaborators, the businessman Gilbert Beaujolin and the American Alexandre Patty, he succeeded in obtaining an exclusive production licence for Coca-Cola and building the first factory of that type in France.

[citation needed] Besides his industrial activity, Grossouvre was counsellor for foreign trade of France (1952–1967) and vice-president of the Chambre de commerce franco-sarroise (1955–1962).

He followed Mitterrand to the Élysée Palace in 1981 and was appointed in June chargé de mission (operations manager) and then conseiller du président (counsellor of the president) of Mitterrand, who entrusted him with security and other sensitive matters, particularly those related to Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia, Morocco, Gabon, the Gulf countries, Pakistan and the two Koreas.

[6] According to Le Figaro, the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior on 10 July 1985 had been decided at a June meeting at the Elysée Palace, attended by Defence Minister Charles Hernu, Admiral Lacoste and Grossouvre.

[1][7] In July 1985, he officially ended his functions as adviser to the president, and worked as an international counsellor for the arms trader Marcel Dassault in 1986.