The Sentinel system has been responsible since 2015 for protecting places particularly exposed to terrorist risk.
The operation of the Sentinel fight against terrorism will “grow in power” as part of the fight against the coronavirus, said Friday, March 20, the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner, who answered questions from Internet users via Facebook.
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“The army, in certain missions, is at the side of our internal security forces”, he stressed, adding that the personnel of the Sentinel system “they don’t do paper checks but they do security, they are a real support”.
“We decided that this device is growing in strength and continues to support us. They will support us a little more”added the minister who was asked if the army could be mobilized in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus, which gave rise to a measure of containment of the population.
The Sentinel system has been responsible since 2015 for protecting places particularly exposed to the terrorist risk (tourist places, airports, stations, religious sites …). There are 7,000 soldiers permanently deployed within the framework of Sentinel and 3,000 others who can be mobilized at any time to reinforce protection from time to time.
It has already happened that the military system has been adapted to allow the police and gendarmes to be more mobilized on other missions, such as law enforcement.
Christophe Castaner saluted the army, “because not only do they accompany the internal security forces but they also accompany the medical staff”. “A military hospital will be installed in Alsace in a few days, a military boat will dock tomorrow in Corsica to take care of patients who are in hospitals”, he listed.
