Paris (AFP)

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced Saturday the launch of two missions on the detection of possible signs of radicalization of agents in charge of the fight against terrorism, after the killing of the police headquarters of Paris, in an interview to the JDD.

Asked about the "loophole" that allowed an employee of the Intelligence Directorate of the Prefecture of Paris (DRPP) to kill four of his colleagues Thursday, he acknowledged that it was "obviously a central question."

Regarding any confidential information that the computer scientist could have disclosed outside, he replied that "technical verifications" were in progress.

"I will be told that zero risk does not exist, it's true, but it's our responsibility never to accept any defects and to always close the cracks," said Philippe.

"For all intelligence services, the detection of internal threats is a top priority, in particular, no signal of radicalization can be ignored or remain unanswered," added the Prime Minister.

The first of the two missions entrusted to the General Intelligence Inspectorate concerned the DRPP, where the attacker had been working since 2003. The results are expected at the end of the month.

"She will say, first, if the detection and reporting tools were in place at the DRPP and if they worked well," said Philippe.

It will have to "verify whether, during the years that the perpetrator has been through the DRPP, particularly those who would have been affected by a process of radicalization, the tools and procedures for detection and reporting were in place, s? they have been properly implemented (...) and if they have given rise to appropriate reactions, "added Matignon in a statement.

The second mission, to be finalized by the end of the year, will target all counterterrorism intelligence services.

"I asked that she conduct an in-depth review of the procedures for the detection, reporting and treatment of radicalization processes in the entire intelligence service involved in the fight against terrorism," said the head of government , assuring: "the sieve is going to be very thin".

The national service of the administrative investigations of security realized "more than 300.000" surveys in 2018 ", he detailed, specifying that" in the police, in the last years, about twenty situations gave rise to measures to dismiss people whose behavior was not compatible with their duties ".

Both missions should lead to proposals to upgrade the detection of radicalization procedures in the intelligence services.

This attack raised a lively controversy, the opposition of right and extreme right demanding a parliamentary inquiry on the "dysfunctions" and for some, the resignation of the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner to whom Edouard Philippe said his "confidence" , refusing to "respond to polemic politics".

© 2019 AFP