France Unveils Defense Overhaul To Combat Terror Threat
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Paris — Terrorism was singled out yesterday as the greatest threat to France as President Sarkozy unveiled a major defense overhaul.
With French forces still organized around the Cold War strategies, Mr. Sarkozy said the country must adapt by creating a leaner, more technological and mobile army, and shifting the emphasis toward intelligence.
This would entail cutting 54,000 defense jobs, and funneling the extra money into state-of-the-art equipment, he said.
“Today, the most immediate threat is that of a terrorist attack,” Mr. Sarkozy told 3,000 officers in Paris, as he outlined his country’s defence priorities for the next 15 years. “Thanks to the effectiveness of our security forces, France has not been attacked in recent years. But the threat is there, it is real, and we know that it could tomorrow take on a new form, even more serious, by nuclear, chemical, and biological means.”
French defense spending will total $600 billion between 2009 and 2020, with more than two-thirds spent on equipment.
The intelligence budget for surveillance equipment, including satellites and drones, is to double, and a national security council will be set up at the Elysee Palace — although with less centralized power than its American equivalent. A new national intelligence co-ordinator, the former ambassador to Iraq and Algeria, has already been appointed.
France for the first time made homeland security part of its defense strategy, dedicating 10,000 troops to handling threats from terrorism, cyber-attacks, and natural disasters.
With the largest army in the European Union, France will reduce its troop numbers to 224,000 from 271,000, and bring down its “combat-ready” forces to 30,000 from 50,000.
Mr. Sarkozy, the most pro-American French president in decades, also confirmed that there was “nothing to stop” France’s return to NATO’s integrated command structure, which General Charles de Gaulle left in 1966 to mark independence from Washington. However, he said it would neither relinquish control of its nuclear deterrent nor command of its armed forces.
