Count Alexandre de Marenches (1921-1995) was a French military officer.
During the Second World War, Count de Marenches was aide de camp to General Juin. As such, he helped to coordinate the US military with the remaining French divisions.
He was head of the Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage (SDECE, France’s external intelligence agency) from November 6, 1970 to June 12, 1981.
Among other things, Count de Marenches is known to have predicted the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to an American journalist that immediately reported his conversation to US National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski and left for Kabul, «arriving in the same time as the Soviet tanks did» (Marenches in Dans le Secret des Princes).
In 1986, he co-authored Dans le secret des Princes («In the Princes’ secret», literally, published in English as The Evil Empire: Third World War Continues) with journalist Christine Ockrent about his days working in secret services.
In 1992, he co-authored The Fourth World War: Diplomacy and Espionage in the Age of Terrorism with David Andelman.