WASHINGTON: The US military has ordered increased security at facilities across Europe in the wake of the Paris attacks, but officials on Thursday described it as a precautionary step and said there was no intelligence about any specific threat.

The Pentagon declined to detail the kinds of measures being rolled out as part of the “additional force protection measures and random security enhancements” announced by the US military’s European Command.

Such measures could include anything from random searches of individuals entering bases to deploying additional personnel to staff military checkpoints. The Paris attacks on Jan 7 and counter-terrorism raids elsewhere in Europe have heightened anxiety across the region about the threat from radical militant Islamists.

At the Pentagon, outgoing Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said “we’ve seen no indication” that Islamic militants were targeting US military families or personnel in Europe. “No intelligence on any of that,” Hagel told a news conference.

Still, Hagel said he supported the decision, which was taken by the head of the US military’s European Command, General Philip Breedlove and implemented on Tuesday. “We put trust and confidence in our combatant commanders to make those kind of decisions. They are the closest to the reality of these dangers,” Hagel said.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2015

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