But if a man who reportedly had a fiche S file was under surveillance but still able to carry out an attack on a church, then how can France possibly be expected to stay a step ahead of the estimated 10,000 to 11,000 people with fiche S files in France?
Hervé Morin, the president of the Normandy regional council, talked of a “risk of the fracturing of French society.”
“We have lived in peace since 1945 but that is changing,” said Morin. “We need to respond to this accumulation of violence, if not French society will explode.”
His words echoed recent statements to a parliamentary inquiry by the head of France's internal security agency Patrick Calvar who talked of a risk of civil war in France if right wing extremists start launching revenge attacks.
Numerous right wing authors have also evoked the prospect of France's communities turning on each other as the result of cracks opening up with each terror attack.
Several experts on extremism have severely criticised the government for constantly talking of war and playing into the trap set by Isis, who would love nothing more than for French citizens of different faiths and cultures to turn on each other.
“Talk of war only reinforces the discourse of Isis because it presents them as the great global threat. It's a vicious circle,” leading expert Olivier Roy said.
Roy and others suggest the government would be benefit France far more if it talked more about the need for unity and resilience than for war.