France to recruit thousands as it beefs up security
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France is to recruit thousands of extra police, spies and investigators to boost national security and intelligence, Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced yesterday, two weeks after 17 people were killed by Islamist militants.
Warning the threat remained high after the most deadly Islamist attack on French soil, Valls said the state would hire 2,680 in the police, justice, intelligence and defence sectors by 2018 for anti-jihadi work, surveillance and security. Dozens of extra Muslim chaplains would also be employed to work with potential militants in France’s overcrowded jails.
“The fight against terrorism, jihadism and radical Islam will be a long haul,” Valls told a news conference after the measures were agreed by President Francois Hollande’s cabinet.
“The first requirement is that we further reinforce the human and material assets of our intelligence services,” said Valls, who after the January 7-9 attacks conceded there could have been “shortfalls” in monitoring and justice arrangements.
France is struggling to keep watch over an estimated 1,200 radical Islamists and some 200 people who have returned home after fighting with militant groups in Syria and Iraq.
Valls said a possible penalty would be debated under which offenders would be stripped of certain civic rights — an idea floated by the conservative opposition which mirrors a post-World War Two law barring collaborators with Nazi occupiers from voting, holding office or working for the state.
Despite commitments worth a total 425 million euros (US$492 million) in extra spending, Valls said France would respect public finance commitments made to its EU partners.
The three gunmen responsible for the attacks on satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket were killed in stand-offs with security forces. Somali Islamist militant group al Shabaab praised al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula over the attack, describing them in a statement as “the pioneers of external operations that target the heart of the Crusader enemies.”
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