A few hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, internal security is a priority for the State. Among France’s concerns, foreign interference. The Senate is publishing a report this week on the fight against these malicious external influences. It reports on the attacks against the country, and the means to counter them.
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The Senate report is unambiguous : there is urgency for the France to arm itself further in this Cold War 2.0. He advocates a profound “revolution” of mentalities in France in the face of “malicious foreign influences” and in the face of a “neo-Cold War”, advocating a mobilization of the entire nation to amplify the fight. Like other democracies, the country is in the sights of authoritarian states with colossal resources.
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A Senate inquiry committee published its report on July 25, entitled “Fight against malicious foreign influences: for a mobilization of the entire nation in the face of the neo-Cold War,” after six months of work and hearings of 120 personalities, including five ministers.
The report proposes a roadmap of 47 recommendations to be implemented in different sectors. Among these proposals: “strengthen” Viginum, the French organization for the fight against foreign digital interferenceby giving him ” a status of State agency with management autonomy and placed under the supervision of the General Secretariat for Defense and National Security (SGDSN) “, and to strengthen its human, material and legal resources. It also recommends setting up an “observatory” of these foreign influences “bringing together stakeholders from civil society and the public actors concerned”.
Also listen toForeign Interference Law: “The Russians and the Chinese are not the only ones, our allies too”
Danger of social networks
“ It is estimated that there is approximately one billion euros put in place by the “Russian galaxy”. On the other hand, it is estimated that there are two million Chinese people working on these issues of interference or control of social networks. “, explains the socialist Rachid Temal, rapporteur of the commission of inquiry, at the microphone of Marius Rolland from RFI’s political service.
Social media is a prime playground for foreign destabilization. Just this week, a video was massively shared by pro-Russian accounts, in which a supposed Hamas fighter threatens Olympic Games of terrorist acts. A false staging debunked by RFI’s Info Verif unit.
But countering these attacks cannot be the responsibility of the media alone, as Dominique de Legge, president of the Les Républicains commission, points out: “ National education and the world of culture must become aware of the danger. This is not a specialist thing, it concerns all French people. It is a whole educational work that we have perhaps not done enough up until now. »
The rapporteur Rachid Temal also insisted on the need to “ winning the narrative battle. […] We must say loud and clear what our country and our democracy hold as values. “At the same time, cybersecurity capabilities must be strengthened. The report calls for a reassessment of the armed forces’ resources, highlighting the increasing number of threats.
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