It acquired its current name in 2014, with a small structural shift: contrary to the DCRI which was part of the National Police, the DGSI reports directly to the Ministry of the Interior.

[3] The fusion of the RG and the DST into the Direction centrale du renseignement intérieur (DCRI) was a wish held by Nicolas Sarkozy when he was France's Minister of the Interior.

[citation needed] The change was officially launched by the Council of Ministers on 20 June 2007, shortly after the election of Sarkozy as President.

Minister of the Interior Michèle Alliot-Marie,[4] however, was reputedly reluctant regarding this fusion and ordered the General Director of the Police Nationale, Frédéric Péchenard, to undertake a study of the proposal.

René Bailly then left the DCRI in the month of June 2009 to take leadership of the new direction of intelligence of the Paris police (DRPP),[citation needed] Patrick Calvar named director of intelligence of external security(DGSE) is replaced in his post at the beginning of 2010 by Frédéric Veaux, until then sub-director of the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police.

In December 2008, the leadership of the DCRI made priority of surveilling an impending plot orchestrated by an Islamist in the region of Paris.

[8][9][10] After the left-wing Parti Socialiste (France) taking control of both the parliament and the presidency in the 2012 presidential and legislative elections, a reassessment the role of the DCRI was sought.

In May 2013, a bipartisan parliamentary report on the intelligence services was prepared by members of parliament Jean-Jacques Urvoas and Patrice Verchère.