Riyadh: Saudi King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz on Thursday decreed the consolidation of counter-terrorism and domestic intelligence under a new body, in a major overhaul of the security apparatus weeks after the interior minister was removed.
The string of royal decrees also ordered a shake-up of senior personnel, replacing the head of the elite royal guard and elevating the head of the newly created Presidency of State Security, Abdul Aziz Bin Mohammad Al Howairini, and his deputy to the rank of ministers.
The moves inside the world’s biggest oil exporting nation centralises authority in security matters to the king and his young son, Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, the Crown Prince.
The decrees published by the state news agency said the changes were made in order “to face all security challenges with a high degree of flexibility and readiness and the ability to move quickly to face any emergency”.
Thursday’s orders also raised the head of Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s personal office to the rank of minister.
A Saudi analyst described the move as a long-overdue reform that would benefit the state.
A Saudi official compared the new agency to the US Department of Homeland Security and said the move was aimed at streamlining security services and making counter-terrorism efforts directly accountable to the king.
“The Ministry of Interior is such a massive bureaucracy,” he said. “The purpose is that you want to create new efficiencies for both entities and elevate the work especially in counter-terrorism.”
Saudi Arabia crushed a campaign of Al Qaida attacks in 2003-06 but has been hit by Daesh bombings in the past two years. Saudi security police closely monitor Saudis with suspected connections to militants and have detained more than 15,000 suspects in the years since Al Qaida’s campaign.
The official said Al Howairini was a “known quantity” who had worked in the Interior Ministry for 30 years including on the US-Saudi counter-terrorism partnership.
As part of Thursday’s decrees, the king also appointed Mohammad Al Kuwaiz head of the Saudi Arabian Capital Markets Authority (CMA), which regulates investments in the kingdom.
