As Paris remains on high-alert following the deadly terrorist attacks Friday night, the Marine Corps has sent additional embassy security guards to provide reinforcements at diplomatic facilities.
The French prime minister has cautioned that more attacks across Europe could already be in the works and raids continue to be conducted around France, as police go after the network of terrorists responsible for the latest carnage.
The attacks on Friday in Pairs left 129 dead and hundreds more wounded. Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attacks, and has since warned that other cities — including Washington — could be next.
The Marine Corps Times reports that members of the Corps’ embassy reinforcement team, the Marine Security Augmentation Unit (MSAU), arrived in Paris on Monday. According to Marine officials, the MSAU has been tapped for about 60 missions around the world over the past two years.
The State Department determines the size of the MSAU teams sent to shore up security at foreign embassies. But officials declined to comment on the size of the Marine embassy guard team in Paris, because of security concerns.
Typically, however, “squad-sized teams” are dispatched from Quantico for these security missions. There are about 120 members of the MSAU.
After the 2012 deadly terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, lawmakers asked the State Department to look into better ways to protect diplomatic personnel and facilities worldwide.
Following that attack in Libya, which left four Americans dead, Congress called on the Marine Corps to add 1,000 new Marine security guards.
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