Monarcy in Peril – Saudi Arabia fortifies its Intelligence Ranks

The appointment of Prince Bandar bin Sultan as head of Saudi Arabia’s principal intelligence service is seen as a shift toward a more aggressive foreign policy.

New Saudi spymaster marks shift in policy
26 July, 2012 – UPI

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, July 26 (UPI) — The appointment of Prince Bandar bin Sultan as the head of Saudi Arabia’s principal intelligence service is widely seen as a shift toward a more aggressive foreign policy as the kingdom struggles with challenges from Iran and Syria.

King Abdallah named Bandar, a veteran of the Middle East’s intrigues and Saudi Arabia’s ambassador in Washington in 1983-2005, in a surprise July 19 command change at the General Intelligence Presidency, the kingdom’s foreign intelligence agency.

Bandar, Abdallah’s nephew, replaces Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, the king’s half-brother and Bandar’s half-uncle who was widely seen as one of the monarch’s closest advisers.

Abdullah appointed Muqrin in 2005 to replace Prince Nawaf bin Abdulaziz. Muqrin, who had lived in relative obscurity until he took over the GIP, had come under considerable domestic criticism of late because of what is seen as a poor performance in handling the complexities of the surge of pro-democracy uprisings across the Arab world that the House of Saud has sought to keep at arm’s length.

The civil war in Syria, whose Alawite regime Saudi Arabia’s Sunny monarchy has long plotted against, and the prospect of a war with Shiite Iran over its reported drive to acquire nuclear weapons, preoccupy Riyadh while, Abdallah, Canute-like, strives to keep the democratic wave from breaking on its shores.

Saudi Arabia now “has the opportunity to regain its leading role” in the region after it “subsided in favor of Iran and Turkey following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the U.S. invasion of Iraq,” in 2003, observed political analyst Abdullah al-Shummari. …more