In the Fall of 2007, the Sarkozy government introduced a bill establishing the “parliamentary Delegation for Intelligence” (Délégation parlementaire au renseignement, or DPR), an eight-member strong bipartisan parliamentary committee charged with “keeping track (suivi) of the general activity and means” of intelligence agencies. This was a tepid move, but nevertheless amounted to significant change: For the first time, the executive branch conceded to the legislative branch –which is structurally weak under the political regime of the Fifth Republic– some degree of first-hand knowledge of what was until then a "chasse gardée".

Later, in 2013, a Military Planning Act extended the prerogatives on the DPR to the "parliamentary oversight of the Government's action in the field of intelligence" and to the evaluation of public policy in this field. It also amended a 2002 Finance Law to make the parliamentary committee in charge of auditing intelligence budgets part of the DPR.