French legislators urge intel overhaul after Paris attacks

PARIS (AP) — French lawmakers are urging a rethink of France’s intelligence structure because of failings around last year’s deadly Islamic extremist attacks in Paris.

A special parliamentary commission is releasing a report Tuesday analyzing what went wrong before the attacks in January and November, and releasing 39 proposals to prevent a repeat.

Commission chief George Fenech, in an interview with Le Figaro newspaper, proposed a centralized national anti-terrorism agency and merging France’s elite intervention forces under a unified command.

The lawmakers reportedly criticize Belgian authorities for being slow to stop fugitive attacker Salah Abdeslam.

Attacks against a kosher market and Charlie Hebdo newspaper in January 2015 killed 17 people, and coordinated attacks against the national stadium, Bataclan concert hall, and Parisian cafes killed 130 people in November.