It was initially called the Special Presidential Brigade (French: Brigade spéciale présidentielle) before being enlarged into a division in 1986, and was one of several competing forces directly linked to the president, along with the Civil Guard and Service for Action and Military Intelligence [fr].

[4] It was commanded by Mobutu's cousin, General Etienne Nzimbi Ngbale Kongo wa Basa.

People were taken away, tortured, imprisoned without trial, exiled to another part of the country, or simply disappeared.

[7][8] In 1993, the DSP was sent to quell unrest in Masisi, North Kivu but inflamed the situation after it sided with the Hutu residents against the indigenous Bahunde.

(Reno 1997, 48) A 1996 United Nations report noted that Prime Minister Étienne Tshisekedi and his staff were subject to routine surveillance and harassment by DSP soldiers.