The Direction générale des études et recherches, or General Directorate for Studies and Research, DGER), created in 1944, was a division of the _Bureau Central de Renseignements et d'Action _(BCRA), the intelligence agency of the Free French Forces, headed by Charles de Gaulle's French government-in-exile in London. Jacques Soustelle served as its first director, from 6 November 1944 to 18 April 1945. he was followed by André Dewavrin until April 1946, when the DGER became the _Service de documentation extérieure et de contre-espionnage _(SDECE).