Euro 2016: An Attractive Target for Terrorists

There are heightened security concerns in France, as the Euro 2016 football tournament begins today at multiple sites throughout the country.  France is particularly on edge in light of the devastating coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris last November that left 130 dead and hundreds injured. 

In an interview with The Cipher Brief, Mitch Silber, former Director of Analysis for the NYPD, said “France is both the top European target and the most vulnerable European country to terror attacks,” and consequently, “France extended its ‘state of emergency’ so that it would cover the Euro 2016 tournament.” A successfully executed attack could put the “future of the EU as a borderless entity” at stake especially with the upcoming vote in Britain on whether to leave the EU, he says.