Modernising France’s Security and Defence Apparatus: a French National Security Council?
By Alastair Cameron
18 Feb 2008
President Sarkozy, in his characteristic style, has announced the creation of a new National Security and Defence Council. The body was initially thought to have been rejected due to severe opposition from the higher echelons of France’s security and defence apparatus. The task of the new council will be to provide the president with a global perspective on security, integrating territorial security, traditional military defence and foreign external action services.
Currently, responsibility for the hexagon’s security and defence policy is spread at various levels and amongst a succession of ministerial departments and agencies. Many have noted that the new council has evident similarities with Washington’s National Security Council. The French body will, in effect, place the president at the centre of the French security and defence apparatus by providing him with greater decision-making authority.
18 Feb 2008
President Sarkozy, in his characteristic style, has announced the creation of a new National Security and Defence Council. The body was initially thought to have been rejected due to severe opposition from the higher echelons of France’s security and defence apparatus. The task of the new council will be to provide the president with a global perspective on security, integrating territorial security, traditional military defence and foreign external action services.
Currently, responsibility for the hexagon’s security and defence policy is spread at various levels and amongst a succession of ministerial departments and agencies. Many have noted that the new council has evident similarities with Washington’s National Security Council. The French body will, in effect, place the president at the centre of the French security and defence apparatus by providing him with greater decision-making authority.
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