Overview
- He succeeds General Ghislain Réty, who had led the GIGN since 2020.
- Villeminoz first joined the GIGN in 2004 and served as a section chief in the Force d’intervention with deployments to Afghanistan and French Guiana.
- His record includes participation in the 2015 Charlie Hebdo manhunt and the Dammartin-en-Goële intervention, as well as security leadership for the Tour de France and Euro 2016.
- Before his appointment he served as chief of operational staff in New Caledonia from July to October 2024, then as a special adviser in the director general’s cabinet.
- His selection, reportedly over General Quentin de Bennetot, places a longtime insider at the head of a roughly 1,000-strong counterterrorism and hostage‑response unit.