After terror attacks, France to cut fewer military jobs

France’s government will cut 7,500 fewer jobs in the military than first planned to better fight terrorism in the wake of the Paris attacks.

After President Francois Hollande met Wednesday with his top security advisers, his office said in a statement that a five-year military development budget program will now cut 18,300 positions through 2019 instead of 25,800.

Long before the terror attacks this month in Paris, the cost-cutting French government had approved the military job cuts as a way to reduce the country’s soaring budget deficit. The cuts are to be completed by summer.

Authorities have deployed more than 10,000 extra troops across France since the Jan. 7-9 terror attacks.

The Socialist-run government also announced new security measures Wednesday, including equipping security forces better and hiring more intelligence agents.