At least seven IS attackers struck at a downtown Parisian concert venue, night spots, and outside an worldwide soccer match on a bustling Friday night in November in the deadliest attack in France since World War II, prompting France to declare a months-long state of emergency.
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French lawmakers have recommended sweeping changes to the country’s intelligence services in response to mounting concerns over the dangers posed by worldwide terrorism.
“The two big intelligence bosses admitted during their hearings that the 2015 attacks represent a “global intelligence failure”, said Socialist lawmaker Sebastien Pietrasanta.
It said all the French citizens among the attackers had been known to the authorities during their radicalisation, but the different agencies had failed to pass on the information.
He recommended a national counterterrorism agency like that created in the USA after the September 11 attacks.
It was aimed at studying what happened before, after and during the January attacks on Charlie Hebdo and the kosher market, which killed 17 people, and the November attacks on the Bataclan, stadium and cafes, which killed 130.
“Our country was not ready, now we must get ready”, he told AFP.
When police officers arrived on 13th at the Bataclan nightclub – where more than 100 people were being held by gunmen – the officers asked a local military patrol to give them their weapons, but the military police refused.
He said intelligence authorities had acknowledged mistakes during questioning and he urged a rethink of the way the country gathers its intelligence.
The commission was formed at the request of the conservative opposition Republicans party, to examine the resources put in place by the state to fight terrorism following the January 2015 attacks.
The commission said France’s state of emergency established after the November attacks was having a “limited impact” on security.
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The inquiry also questioned the “real added value” of Operation Sentinelle, under which thousands of soldiers were deployed to protect schools, synagogues, department stores and other sensitive sites.
