Riyadh: A ministerial committee was formed under the chairmanship of Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud to restructure the General Intelligence Presidency.
Under the move, the agency will update its statute and regulations, delineate its powers, and evaluate the procedures, methods, and authorities regulating its work as well as its chain of command and hierarchy in a manner that guarantees proper functioning and assignment of responsibilities.
The committee held its first meeting on October 25 under the chairmanship of Prince Mohammad. The action plan was developed to implement the royal directive, according to the Saudi Press Agency. The committee then held several subsequent meetings to evaluate the status quo and identify gaps in the organisational structure, policies, procedures, governance, legal frameworks, and qualification mechanisms.
The committee recommended short, medium, and long-term development solutions within the development programme of the General Intelligence Presidency.
The committee also approved the following urgent solutions:
- 1) Create a department for strategy and development to ensure that operations are in line with both the General Intelligence Presidency’s strategy and the National Security Strategy, and link this department to the General Intelligence President.
- 2) Create a general department for legal affairs to review intelligence operations in accordance with international laws and charters and with human rights, and link this department to the General Intelligence President.
- 3) Create a general department for performance evaluation and internal review to evaluate operations, verify their compliance with the approved procedures, and report to the General Intelligence President.
- 4) Activate the Intelligence Activity Committee and develop a task mechanism, which aims to conduct preliminary reviews and select competent individuals for the tasks.
The Kingdom declares that it will continue the development and governance of its institutions as part of its strategy to develop the government system, especially the security and intelligence agencies, in pursuit of achieving best international practices.
Given its leading role in the Arab and Muslim worlds and globally, the Kingdom emphasises that it will continue to fulfill its goals both at the local and international levels.
