PARIS \u2014 France will scale back by 7,500 a planned cut of 34,000 military personnel as the government announced plans to recruit security and surveillance staff to counter terrorist attacks, the president and prime minister said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The measures are part of the response to the killing of 17 civilians, including Charlie Hebdo journalists, by three <\/span>radical jihadist gunmen three weeks ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on RTL radio <\/span>confirmed on RTL radio Jan. 22 <\/span>a Radio France International RFI <\/span>report that there are ex-French Army soldiers fighting in Iraq and Syria under the Islamic State flag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Le Drian declined to confirm the reported figure of some 10 ex-Army troopers engaged with the radical fundamentalist ISIS force. The domestic intelligence services are tracking military personnel seen as potential risk, he said on RTL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We know, we’re watching, we’re acting,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Fran\u00e7ois Hollande’s office announced Jan. 21 the revised military job losses after a high-level Defense Council meeting, and after Prime Minister Manuel Valls set out plans to recruit 2,680 staff over three years to bolster the anti-terrorist activities of the Interior, Justice, Defense and Finance ministries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “During the council meeting, [Hollande] decided to cut by 7,500 the staff reduction planned by the Ministry of Defense over 2015-2019 under the military budget law, of which 1,500 is in 2015,” the president’s office said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An official review of the military budget law had been due in the autumn but the president has now <\/span>asked it be moved that to be speeded <\/span>up to the summer to take into account the new staff count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The president’s statement is “worrying” as it lacked extra funding to pay for the defense jobs, while the government boosted financing for the Interior and Justice ministries, said Member of Parliament Fran\u00e7ois Cornut-Gentille, who is special reporter on defense spending for the Finance Committee of the lower-house National Assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Defense officials are locked in tough talks with the Finance Ministry, and the former needed a strong sign to hold on to the military budget. “This sign did not come,” Cornut-Gentille said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The staff costs have a higher top <\/span>priority in the defense budget than over <\/span>equipment, so the lack of extra funding will likely hit orders to industry, a defense specialist said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Extra funding of \u20ac736 million ($855 million) has been found for the Interior and Justice ministries, including \u20ac425 million for equipment including bullet-proof vests and weapons. The task is to track some 3,000 terrorist suspects and sympathizers on French soil, and better protect the police. The gunmen killed three police officers after that attack on Charlie Hebdo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some 2,680 staff will be recruited for the domestic anti-terrorist drive, with 1,400 for the Interior Ministry, 950 for Justice, 250 for Defense and 80 for Finance, of which 70 will be in the Customs Service. Most of these will be for intelligence gathering and tracking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of the fresh funds committed over three years, \u20ac233 million is for Interior and \u20ac181 million for the Justice Ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n