A Royal Order was issued in Saudi Arabia on Thursday evening to establish a state security presidium, which is linked to the Prime Minister.

:: A Royal Order was issued in Saudi Arabia on Thursday evening to establish a state security presidium, which is linked to the Prime Minister.

The royal decree stipulates that all security institutions should be linked to the State Security Presidency, which has appointed Abdel Aziz al-Huwairini as its head, with the rank of minister, while continuing as director-general of the General Investigation.

The state security presidium includes the General Directorate of Investigation, the Special Security Forces, the Special Emergency Forces, Air security, General Directorate of Forensics, National Information Center and all related functions of the Presidency, including combating terrorism and its financing and financial investigations.

The Head of State Security shall be a member of the Political and Security Affairs Council.

The following departments, currently part of the Ministry of Interior, will be annexed to the new Presidency of State Security: Investigations, special security forces, special emergency forces, security aviation, technical affairs, national information center, and other departments in charge of combating terrorism, its finance and financial investigation.

Concerns of security of the State, including civil and military personnel, budgets, documents, and information will also be transferred to the new authority. The necessary review of laws, regulations and cooperation should be followed. The royal order will be carried out with immediate effect by the concerned authorities.

With regard to the establishment of the state security Apparatus, the Ministry of the Interior has done a distinctive job for citizens since its establishment until the beginning of the nineties with regard to police, traffic, passports and other services. With the emergence of the phenomenon of terrorism in the nineties, the Ministry of the Interior took all the necessary measures in the fight against terrorism, which led to some sort of a disbalance that affected some services such as traffic, police and passports.

• The establishment of the State Security Apparatus will enable the Interior Ministry to provide the best services for the citizens and residents in all its sectors. The State Security apparatus will be able to focus on combating terrorism and monitoring its funding. The State Security apparatus will be able to communicate with external stakeholders and be more efficient.

• The establishment of the state security apparatus has an economic impact that rationalizes the state expenditure, increases revenues, achieves the economic growth of the Kingdom, and creates competitiveness in the Saudi economy. The export growth and import substitution will improve the Kingdom’s balance of payments and reduce dependence on overseas imports

• The establishment of the state security apparatus will save tens of billions of the state budget through raising the efficiency of work, reducing costs and rationalizing it.

• The increase in revenues will reflect in increased government spending on social services and infrastructure and will enable the state to continue achieving and stimulating higher economic growth.

• This decision represents the vision of Prince Naïf bin Abdul Aziz may he rest in peace, and was based on the conviction of His Highness the Crown Prince and the Minister of the Interior. The vision was supported by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman.

The concept of the State Security apparatus is in the best practices applied globally.