2 min read
ByAnshel Pfeffer, Anshel Pfeffer
The coup de grace was near faultless - two special-forces teams working in complete co-ordination stormed the print works where Cherif and Said Kouachi were holed up north of Paris and the Hyper Cacher grocery where Amedy Coulibaly had taken hostages. Within minutes, the three gunmen were dead without further casualties.
However, nearly everything that preceded the successful operation of the GIGN and RAID intervention forces was a perfect example of not only the shortcomings of France's security, intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, but the challenge facing all of Western Europe's security establishment.
Senior French officials were stung by reports that the Kouachis and Coulibaly - followers of terror organisers Farid Benyettou and Djamel Beghal - had been on the radar of the security services and were known radical Islamists, but had been taken off the surveillance list last year.
Their response was that it is impossible to deal with the sheer volume of terror suspects with their current resources.
They have a point, of course, but pointing at dozens of other terror attacks that French intelligence managed to discover and prevent cannot change the fact that 17 people were killed in three days by a terror cell whose members had featured on the terrorist lists. One of them, Cherif Kouachi, had even served time for terror-related crimes.
There are a number of areas in which France must improve if it is to prevent the next attacks from taking place.
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Co-operation, intelligence and resource sharing France's government will undoubtedly increase the funding for surveillance and tracking potential terror threats in the wake of last week's murders, but there will still be more suspects than they can handle. The only solution is to improve ways of exchanging and processing information between the various agencies, which is always a difficulty since inter-agency rivalry is natural.
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Solving the prisons issue France has a law from the late 1980s that reduces the burden of proof necessary to sentence those suspected of involvement in terror groups. While that has removed hundreds of Islamists from the streets, it has also created "madrassas" in the prisons, where many young Muslim men are radicalised and prepared for action once they are released. Prison authorities are usually loath to break up such groups, preferring to maintain calm behind bars. There will have to be a new incarceration policy.
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Intelligence targeting France dealt with various waves of Islamist terror over the years. In the past decade, the focus has been on al Qaeda groups, but in recent years they have been more concerned with IS footsoldiers. The Kouachis claimed to be operating on behalf of al Qaeda, while Coulibaly said he belonged to IS. It is clear that while the various movements in the Middle East are bitter rivals, in Europe, there is much less of a divide. The targeting of groups and individuals in France must be much more creative and not based on rigid frameworks.
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Conceptual change Synagogues and Jewish schools are well protected in France, and will receive more protection now. The Charlie Hebdo offices were also guarded. While security of sensitive locations remains important, the recent attacks prove they are not enough, and not every kosher grocery can be guarded. The emphasis has to be on prevention, as well as legislative changes allowing more electronic surveillance.