National Centre for Counter Terrorism
The National Centre for Counter Terrorism is an agency charged with monitoring and preventing terrorism in France. It was created by President Emmanuel Macron on 7 June 2017, the day following the 2017 Notre Dame attack, in response to a series of Islamist terrorist attacks in France that were part of the wave of Islamic terrorism in Europe that had begun in 2014. The new Centre will report directly to the President and is headed by Pierre de Bousquet de Florian, previously head of the Direction de la surveillance du territoire.
The Centre will be located in the presidential Elysee palace and will operate 24-hours a day, focusing on citizens of France who have joined ISIS in Syria and Iraq and on how to counter Islamic radicalization and jihadist distribution of information on how to carry out terror attacks.
The Centre will be in a position like that of the Joint Intelligence Committee in the United Kingdom and the office of the Director of National Intelligence in the United States.
