France Creates National Guard Specifically to Deal with Terror Attacks

After 18 months of terror that began with the Charlie Hebdo shootings in January 2015, French President Francois Hollande has announced that the beleaguered nation will be creating a new civilian National Guard to “protect its citizens.”

Parliamentary consultations about creating this new guard will begin in September “so that this force can be created as fast as possible to protect the French,” says Hollande.

The guard will be composed of volunteers from the military, police, and paramilitary police. All able-bodied volunteers are encouraged to join. The French government hopes to boost the nation’s current 28,000 reservists by 12,000.

Such a force, which France has not had since 1872, is desperately needed to aid the current forces, who are fatigued by 18 months of constant alert and repeated attacks. Hollande’s decision is also an admission that France is unable to deal with terrorism with the resources it currently has. As PB’s Joe Gilbertson theorized in a previous article, responses like this are a clear sign that the terrorists are winning.

The French government has been criticized for suspected security and intelligence lapses, most recently when two jihadists murdered a priest in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy this Tuesday. It was belatedly discovered that both jihadists had been flagged by French intel and had made attempts to join ISIS.

France’s new National Guard will hopefully prevent future attacks, and will also serve as a way to promote national pride and unity among France’s youth. 

Editor’s note: This shows how powerful are the effects of terrorism on a country. A whole entire guard force was created to deal with them. France has not had this level of threat since World War II.