GULFWIRE ~ PERSPECTIVES ~ TABLE OF CONTENTS

·   A CHANGING OF THE GUARD IN SAUDI ARABIA: A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE
·   KING FAHD APPOINTS NEW GENERAL INTELLIGENCE CHIEF

A CHANGING OF THE GUARD IN SAUDI ARABIA: A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE
by
John Duke Anthony

The resignation this week of longtime Saudi Arabian Director of the General
Intelligence Directorate HRH Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Sa'ud came to some
as a surprise.

Others familiar with the Minister's situation expected the resignation at
some point -- it was not a question of whether the Minister, who had served
in his post for more than a quarter of a century, would step down, but when.

The timing was rooted in circumstances pertaining to the Minister's
immediate family - and nothing more.

Rumors versus Reality

Despite rumors and speculations to the contrary, the resignation was not
prompted, let alone validated, by the numerous ill-informed media reports
that have appeared to date.

These include perceived intra-ruling family differences over the Ministry's
handling of such matters as the June 1996 Al-Khobar Towers bombing
investigations and the November 1995 explosions in Riyadh – phenomena dealt
with more directly and extensively by other government agencies than the one that Prince Turki headed – and equally unfounded reports of squabbles
pertaining to the Afghan Taliban, and/or potential scenarios related to
succession.

In any case, many may ask, "What does the resignation mean?  Does it signify that a policy change of some kind is imminent?”

“If so, will our interests be affected?"  Helping to assuage such anxieties
is the following.

Prince Turki's successor, HRH Prince Nawwaf bin Abdalaziz Al Sa'ud, could
hardly be closer to Heir Apparent/Crown Prince, First Deputy Prime Minister, and National Guard Commander Abdallah bin Abdalaziz Al Sa'ud.

The latter is known to have an exceptional measure of trust and confidence
in this senior member of the ruling family.

The Successor’s Challenges

Among the new minister’s challenges are those that pertain to establishing
not so much credibility but as smooth a working relationship with other
ministers as possible.

Of greatest importance will be the need to forge effective inter-ministerial cooperation on matters that pertain to his portfolio and those that in some cases parallel or overlap with the portfolios of others.

In the latter instance, there will need for closest collaboration with the
Ministry of Interior, especially on matters pertaining to security.

But this should not be difficult. Prince Nawwaf, like Minister of Interior
Prince Nayif, share the same father, and he is nearer in age to Nayif than
Prince Turki.

In any case, there are other players who are deemed to be comers in this
ministry because of their education, experience, and overall professional
competence.

One is Faisal bin Abdallah bin Muhammad, the Crown Prince’s nephew and
son-in-law (and brother-in-law to the Crown Prince’s son, Prince Mitib), who works in the intelligence directorate.

Faisal, regarded by many as closely attuned to the requirements of
intelligence, is a former Deputy Commander of the National Guard in the
Western Province.

Faisal’s father, married to the Crown Prince’s sister, is a contemporary of
Prince Abdallah and has been a close associate of the latter longer than
Prince Nawwaf.

A major question of interest to many is how and with whom day-to-day
relations between Western and other countries’ representatives and this
vitally important arm of the Kingdom’s government develop.

Foreign Affairs

On the external front, with the exception of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, some of
the more difficult challenges that the Kingdom faced during the long tenure
of Prince Turki have either been settled, substantially modified, or become
different and in some ways less arduous or complex than before.

Two examples are the ending of the Soviet invasion and occupation of
Afghanistan and the termination of the Iran-Iraq war.

Two more are the successful achievement of independence by the states
adjacent to the Kingdom’s eastern border, and the ending of the country
territorial disputes with virtually all of its neighbors.

There has also been a significant diminution of the kinds of threats to
domestic security –- the odd aircraft hijacking, Iranian-inspired
disruptions during the annual Islamic pilgrimage, cross border forays from
the south, and the occasional demonstration by religious minorities –- that
posed daunting challenges in years gone by.

Context and Circumstances

Much of this has to do with the ending of the Iran-Iraq war, the reversal of Iraq’s aggression against Kuwait, the détente and moves toward rapprochement with Iran on issues related to internal security, and the border agreement with Yemen.

Then too, the overall lowering of threats has been aided by the increasingly close relationship between the Kingdom and its fellow GCC member-states, as well as Egypt and Syria.

But there has also been an improvement in the country’s fiscal situation,
even as a cure for its burgeoning unemployment challenge remains beyond the
government and economy’s reach, as indeed is the case for most of its
neighbors and much of the rest of the developing world.

And, not least, there has been a steady increase in effectiveness among the
Kingdom’s security professionals.

None of which is meant to imply that, in addition to the Al-Aqsa Intifada,
there are not challenges galore that remain to be met. These exist.

The Dynamics of Care versus Cure

But, the Palestinian Uprising and ongoing concerns related to former Saudi
Arabian citizen Osama bin Laden aside, the nature and extent of such
problems are in many ways more manageable than before.

And while no country’s performance in these areas is bereft of blemish, many nations’ heads of state would gladly swap their challenges for those that bedevil the Kingdom’s elites in a milli-second.

By the standards of one four-part scale of judgement – how well a system of
governance is faring in terms of its external defense, domestic security,
system of justice, and material well-being -- the Kingdom’s serious
shortcomings appear to be manageable.

This is certainly the case if one’s comparison is with other countries that
confront similar challenges for which palliatives, let alone a cure, have
been much more elusive.

Empirical Experience

As to how quickly and easily the new Minister can be expected to settle into the day-to-day workings of the intelligence directorate, no one can say.  It will of course take time.  Such things always do.

But the process should prove to be less daunting and time-consuming than
many unfamiliar with his background and previous experience might imagine.
The reasons are several.

For nearly forty years, Prince Nawwaf has frequently been entrusted with
exceptionally difficult challenges to the Kingdom's foreign policy
objectives.

A case in point was during the period 1968-1971, when the British proceeded
to abrogate the treaties by which, for more than a century, they had
administered nine east Arabian principalities' defense and foreign
relations.

No Stranger to Difficult Assignments

Throughout most of that period, it was Prince Nawwaf that the late King
Faisal sent to work with these soon-to-be-independent rulers in pursuit of
what he hoped would emerge as the most inclusive new Arab state possible.

In the end, instead of a single federation, three states - Bahrain, Qatar,
and the (seven-member) United Arab Emirates -- were established.

Although many had wished for a larger union, such an outcome reflected
accurately the then prevailing political realities.

Since then, the results have proved to be positive. Compared to how most
other Arab countries have fared over the same length of time, these three
entities have survived and thrived.

And this was not all. Much of the earlier distrust and suspicion between the Kingdom and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi was vitiated in the course of Prince Nawwaf's indefatigable efforts to help smooth the way to independence for these British-protected states.

Further progress in Saudi Arabian-UAE relations was achieved by the efforts, on behalf of King Faisal, of former intelligence director chief Kamal Adham and Dr. Rashad Pharaon.

Inter-Arab Cooperation

In the process, Prince Nawwaf and others became exceptionally knowledgeable
of the limits as well as the possibilities of Arab inter-state cooperation,
coordination, and integration.

Certainly, few outside the Gulf shaikhdoms had more direct exposure to the
steps that led to the formation of the United Arab Emirates in December
1971.

And from that experience, with the exceptions of Prince Turki and Kamal
Adham, Prince Turki’s predecessor, no one in Saudi Arabia had more first
hand awareness of the relevance of what the UAE represented for future Arab
intra-regional cooperation.

Such awareness came in handy when the next successful effort in such
sub-regional cooperation transpired ten years later: namely, the six-country Gulf Cooperation Council that was formed in May 1981.

In addition to Princes Sa'ud and Turki, albeit to a lesser extent,  Nawwaf
has had considerable experience in representing the Kingdom's interests
within the 22-member League of Arab States, of which it was a co-founder in
September 1944.

League of Arab States

Prince Nawwaf's previous experience with Arab League issues is likely to
prove propitious. Three reasons come to mind.

One is the Kingdom’s strong support for former Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, who became the League's new Secretary-General this past April.

The second is the resulting dynamism that has marked the League's
deliberations from then until now.

The third is Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Sa'ud's completion in the past two weeks of visits to numerous League members.

The goal of the latter exercise: to present a more united Arab front at the
meetings of the UN General Assembly scheduled to begin next week in New
York.

Shouldering and Soldiering on …

In sum, the new Minister would be the first to agree with the observation
that all in public life do little more than stand upon the shoulders of
those that went before.

In this instance, the shoulders of his predecessor were by all accounts
exceptionally strong and broad.

But the ones that Prince Nawwaf brings to the task of heading the Kingdom’s
intelligence directorate, in their own way, are also impressive.
============================================================================

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DR. JOHN DUKE ANTHONY is Publisher of Gulf Wire; President and CEO of the
National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations; and Secretary, U.S.-GCC Corporate
Cooperation Committee.  All three are Washington, D.C.-based non-government
and nonprofit organizations dedicated to educating Americans and others
about America's interests and involvement in the Arab countries, the Middle
East, and the Islamic world.

KING FAHD APPOINTS NEW GENERAL INTELLIGENCE CHIEF
September 1, 2001
[SaudiEmbassy.Net]

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd bin Abdulaziz yesterday relieved Prince Turki Al-Faisal bin Abdulaziz, upon his own request, from his post as Chief of General Intelligence, and appointed Prince Nawaf bin Abdulaziz as his replacement, at the rank of Minister, with immediate effect.

Prince Nawaf has a wealth of experience in a variety of spheres. Following a traditional education in the Kingdom culminating in a university degree in Islamic civilization, he went on to complete post-graduate studies in the United States. At an early age, he was named by his father, founder of the modern Kingdom King Abdulaziz Al-Saud, as Commander of the National Guard. During the reign of King Saud bin Abdulaziz he served as Chief of the Royal Court and later Minister of Finance. Subsequently, he was delegated by King Faisal bin Abdulaziz to participate in meetings such as the summits of the Arab League, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, and the Non-Aligned Movement.

Prince Nawaf is therefore fully cognizant of the Kingdom's systems as well
as of international policy and law. He is in particular an expert in Middle
East affairs. In 1968, following the evacuation of the British forces from
the Arabian Gulf, King Faisal named him as special advisor, and he is
renowned for his efforts in consolidating the seven small emirates that
existed at that time into the present single state of the United Arab
Emirates (UAE). He has traveled widely in the service of the Saudi
government as its official spokesman and special envoy, contributing
positively to the settlement of numerous disputes not only in the Middle
East, but in Africa, and in the four corners of the world. His contribution
to strengthening the Kingdom's relations with other states is widely
respected. He has also helped establish industrial projects both inside and
outside the Kingdom that serve the Arab economy. One of the founders and
most important shareholders of the Saudi-New Zealand Bank, he owns
investment projects in tourism and real estate, and is one of the pioneers
in the field of industrial applications of solar energy. In respect of the
latter, he has extended moral and material support to the University of
Sydney in Australia to enable it to conduct solar research.

As part of his dedication to the service of Arab, Islamic and international
causes, he has been assigned to lead Saudi delegations to Argentina and
Japan as well as a number of Arab countries, and has accompanied Deputy
Prime Minister and Commander of the National Guard Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz on his official trips overseas.

Source: Saudi Embassy Press Release
http://www.saudiembassy.net/press_release/01-spa/09-01-lead.htm 

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