France Terror: Country Allots $490M On Anti-Terror Measures; To Get More Guns, More Intel, Reverses Planned Job Cuts In Defence
France will be allotting $490 million to implement new counter-terrorism measures over the next three years that include the recruitment of hundreds of new police intelligence agents. This, as four men have been charged in relation to the fatal January 7-9 shootings that had killed 17 people.
Under the raft of measures, France will create 2,680 new security-related jobs to fight extremism. About 1,100 of those will be in the police intelligence posts. Moreover, the planned job cuts in the country’s defence and military will be reduced. France had scheduled to lay off 25,800 defence posts over five years. But following the Islamist attacks in Paris in early January, 7,500 jobs from that planned number will now be saved.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Wednesday said the attacks had unfortunately exposed the weaknesses in French intelligence, noting they have identified some 3,000 people with jihadist ties that need to be monitored. He said that in the past year, the number of people with links to “terrorist networks” in Syria and Iraq had jumped to 130 percent. A report by the AFP, citing an unidentified defense ministry source, disclosed a dozen former French soldiers had joined the jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria, bringing up the notion that radical elements could have actually infiltrated the country’s military.
Also included under the measures is hiring an extra 60 Muslim chaplains who will work with the government to fight radicalisation right inside French prison cells. Amedy Coulibaly and Cherif Kouachi, two of the Paris gunmen, were believed to have turned to radical Islam while in prison. France currently has 182 Muslim chaplains.
The allotted $490 million will likewise be spent on Internet companies and social media, as well as to establish an improved database of suspected extremists. Valls noted Internet providers and social networks, whether in the country or abroad, "have a legal responsibility under French law" to comply with the new measures and provide them the information they need on the alleged 3,000 jihadi people with ties to France.
The four men, who have ties with Islamist gunman Coulibaly, were handed preliminary charges of association with terrorism. They were identified only as Willy P., Christophe R., Tonino G. and Mickael A. They are suspected of providing logistical support to Coulibaly. They appeared in court on Tuesday.
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