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---
aliases:
- General Intelligence Presidency
- GIP
- Saudi General Intelligence Presidency
- Saudi General Intelligence
- Saudi Arabian intelligence
- Saudi intelligence
- General Intelligence Directorate (Saudi Arabia)
- Saudi General Intelligence Directorate
- Saudi Arabia's General Intelligence Directorate
- Al-Mukhabarat Al-A'amah
- Istikhbarat Al Amah
- Presidency of General Intelligence
- رئاسة الاستخبارات العامة
category: "Foreign Government"
tags:
- Organization
- SaudiArabia
- IntelligenceService
- Mukhabarat
- SafariClub
- Khashoggi
- CIALiaison
- BCCI
summary: "The Saudi foreign intelligence service, set up in 1956 under King Saud, headed by Kamal Adham, Turki al-Faisal and others, restructured by royal order after the Khashoggi killing in 2018."
start: 1956
location: "Riyadh, Saudi Arabia"
created: 2026-10-13
updated: 2026-10-13
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Kamal Adham]]"
reverse: true
role: "first director of the service"
end: 1979
fn: 2
- type: head_of
with: "[[A. R. (Abdul Raouf) Khalil]]"
reverse: true
role: "described in the Senate BCCI report as a head of Saudi intelligence successive to Adham"
fn: 4
- type: head_of
with: "[[Turki al-Faisal]]"
reverse: true
role: "director, from 1977 per Arab News and 1979 per Gulf News"
end: 2001-08
fn: 7
- type: head_of
with: "[[Nawwaf bin Abdulaziz Al Saud]]"
reverse: true
start: 2001-09
end: 2005-01
fn: 2
- type: head_of
with: "[[Muqrin bin Abdulaziz Al Saud]]"
reverse: true
start: 2005-10
end: 2012-07
fn: 9
- type: head_of
with: "[[Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud]]"
reverse: true
start: 2012-07
end: 2014-04
fn: 10
- type: head_of
with: "[[Youssef bin Ali Al Idrissi]]"
reverse: true
start: 2014-04
end: 2014-06
fn: 11
- type: head_of
with: "[[Khalid bin Bandar Al Saud]]"
reverse: true
start: 2014-06
end: 2015-01
fn: 13
- type: head_of
with: "[[Khalid bin Ali Al Humaidan]]"
reverse: true
start: 2015-01
fn: 14
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Bader bin Saud bin Mohammed Al Saud]]"
reverse: true
role: "special operations section, posting undated"
fn: 23
---
The General Intelligence Presidency (Arabic: Ri'asat al-Istikhbarat al-'Amma, also rendered General Intelligence Directorate, Istikhbarat Al Amah and Al-Mukhabarat Al-A'amah) is the foreign intelligence service of [[Saudi Arabia]], headquartered in [[Riyadh]]. English-language sources also call it Saudi intelligence, the General Intelligence Directorate or the General Intelligence agency.[^1]
### Establishment
The Saudi government encyclopedia dates the Presidency to 1956 and an order of [[King Saud]], who directed that it be organized with defined responsibilities and set up branches in the western region (the Jeddah office) and the Eastern Province (the Dhahran office). It records nine presidents since the founding, including two sons and three grandsons of [[Ibn Saud|King Abdulaziz]], the longest term lasting about twenty-four years and the shortest about eleven months.[^1] Arab News wrote in 2001 that the agency was established in the mid-1960s, with [[Kamal Adham]] its first director.[^2] [[Joseph Kechichian]] wrote in Gulf News that Riyadh created its first intelligence-gathering service during the Arab Cold War, which pitted royalists against Nasserists, and that the General Intelligence Directorate was created under [[King Faisal|King Faisal]], who entrusted it to Adham, the younger half-brother of Queen Iffat.[^3]
The Presidency reports to the king. Kechichian wrote that Adham acted as liaison between the Directorate, which reported to the king, and Western intelligence services, and that his most successful connections were with his Egyptian counterparts, which allowed him to fashion the 1967 Faisal-Nasser reconciliation.[^3]
### Kamal Adham and the CIA liaison
Kechichian wrote that Faisal appointed Adham, born in Istanbul in 1929 and educated at Victoria College in Cairo and at Cambridge, as the first and only ethnic non-Arab chief of Saudi intelligence, a post he held until 1979, when King Khalid replaced him with Turki al-Faisal.[^3] The Senate Foreign Relations Committee report on the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] described Adham as the "past" Saudi intelligence liaison to the United States, and [[A. R. (Abdul Raouf) Khalil]] as the "then-current" one when [[Financial General Bankshares]] (later [[First American Bank]]) was acquired. It wrote that Adham and Khalil were "two successive heads of Saudi intelligence" who were also nominees for BCCI, and that the CIA, asked by the Federal Reserve whether it held derogatory information on the buyers, did not tell the Federal Reserve that both men were foreign intelligence liaisons of the United States.[^4][^5] The committee called Adham "the CIA's former principal contact in the Arab Middle East" and "former Saudi intelligence chief".[^5] Arab News, reporting the 2001 change of director, wrote that Nawwaf was the third director since the agency was established in the mid-1960s, after Adham and Turki al-Faisal.[^2]
The grouping known as the [[Safari Club]] (1976 to 1981), organized by the head of France's [[SDECE]], [[Alexandre de Marenches]], counted the Saudi directorate among its member services, represented by Adham and later by Turki al-Faisal.[^6]
### Turki al-Faisal, 1977 to 2001
Simon Henderson of the [[Washington Institute for Near East Policy]] wrote that Prince Turki al-Faisal, a son of King Faisal, began as deputy director at the age of 23 and was promoted to the top job nine years later, in 1977, and that for a quarter-century he was the main contact for liaison with the CIA and the British Secret Intelligence Service.[^7] Since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Henderson wrote, Turki also held the "Afghanistan file" and acted as the kingdom's main point of contact with the CIA-backed mujahedeen, with [[Osama bin Laden]] and others, and later with the warring factions and the Taliban.[^7] Gulf News gives 1979 as the year Turki replaced Adham; Arab News and the Washington Institute give 1977.[^2][^3][^7]
On August 31, 2001, the Saudi Press Agency announced a royal decree appointing Prince [[Nawwaf bin Abdulaziz Al Saud]] director of intelligence, replacing Turki, who "was relieved of the post at his request."[^2] Henderson wrote that the announcement said Turki had resigned "at his own request" and that he was sacked for reasons that were not known, and set out the dynastic and Taliban-related theories then circulating after the September 11 attacks.[^7]
### Succession, 2001 to 2015
King Fahd's decree of January 26, 2005 relieved Nawwaf "based on his request" and appointed him an adviser of ministerial rank; he had had surgery in 2002 after a brain haemorrhage, and the decree named no successor.[^8] On October 22, 2005, after a nine-month gap, King Abdullah issued a royal decree naming Prince [[Muqrin bin Abdulaziz Al Saud]] head of the General Intelligence Presidency.[^9]
On July 19, 2012, the Saudi Press Agency reported that King Abdullah had relieved Muqrin and named him a ministerial-level adviser and special envoy, appointing Prince [[Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud]], who kept his post as secretary general of the National Security Council.[^10] On April 15, 2014, a royal decree exempted Bandar "from his position at his own request" and replaced him with his deputy, [[Youssef bin Ali Al Idrissi]].[^11] Kechichian wrote that Idrissi was a non-royal, in a post usually reserved for a royal, and that Bandar's partial release was primarily for health reasons.[^12] AFP reported diplomats' statements that Bandar had been sidelined in the Saudi effort to support Syrian rebels and that the file had passed to Interior Minister [[Mohammed bin Nayef]].[^11]
On June 30, 2014, the Saudi Press Agency reported a decree naming Prince [[Khalid bin Bandar Al Saud]], the governor of Riyadh who had been made deputy defence minister six weeks earlier and relieved of that post two days before, chief of general intelligence.[^13] On January 29, 2015, a week after the accession of King Salman, the agency reported a royal order relieving Khalid bin Bandar and appointing Gen. [[Khalid bin Ali Al Humaidan]] with cabinet rank.[^14] On August 7, 2026, Arab News reported Humaidan, described as Saudi Arabia's intelligence chief, in Baghdad for talks with the Iraqi prime minister on security coordination and intelligence sharing.[^15]
### Khashoggi and the 2018 restructuring
[[Jamal Khashoggi]] was killed inside the Saudi consulate in [[Istanbul]] on October 2, 2018. On October 20, 2018, the Saudi Press Agency reported royal decrees removing the deputy head of the Presidency, [[Ahmed Al-Asiri]], and [[Saud Al-Qahtani]] from his advisory role at the Royal Court. Arab News named three other intelligence officials dismissed that day: Mohammad bin Saleh Al-Rumaih, Abdullah bin Khalifa Al-Shaya and Rashad bin Hamed Al-Muhamadi. The same decrees ordered a ministerial committee headed by Crown Prince [[Mohammed bin Salman]] to restructure the General Intelligence agency and issue its results within a month; its members included the interior and foreign ministers and the heads of General Intelligence and [[Presidency of State Security|State Security]].[^16] On October 23, 2018, the Council of Ministers, as reported by the Saudi Press Agency, described the royal directives as reflecting a determination "not only to hold those involved to account but also to take corrective measures."[^17]
In December 2018, the Saudi Press Agency reported that the committee had decided that separate departments for strategy and development, for legal affairs, and for performance evaluation and internal review be established within the Presidency.[^18]
Turkish sources said that 15 Saudi intelligence operatives flew to Istanbul on two private jets hours before the killing; the Saudi government attributed the death to a group of rogue operatives.[^19] On November 15, 2018, the [[United States Department of the Treasury]] designated Qahtani, Maher Mutreb, the consul general and 14 other members of what it called an operations team under the Global Magnitsky authorities.[^20] A declassified assessment of the [[Office of the Director of National Intelligence]] dated February 11, 2021 stated that the Crown Prince had had "absolute control of the Kingdom's security and intelligence organizations" since 2017.[^21]
### Rapid Intervention Force
The ODNI assessment wrote that the team that arrived in Istanbul on October 2, 2018 included seven members of the Crown Prince's personal protective detail, the Rapid Intervention Force, which it described as a subset of the Saudi Royal Guard that "answers only to him," and officials of the Center for Studies and Media Affairs at the Royal Court, led by Qahtani.[^21] On February 26, 2021, [[Office of Foreign Assets Control]] added the Rapid Intervention Force (also listed as the Saudi Rapid Intervention Group and "Tiger Squad"; organization established date 2015; linked to Qahtani) and Asiri to its Specially Designated Nationals list; the Treasury action title described Asiri as the former deputy head of the General Intelligence Presidency.[^22]
### Personnel
Prince [[Bader bin Saud bin Mohammed Al Saud]], later a Ministry of Interior brigadier general, was posted to the Saudi General Intelligence agency to join its special operations section after service with the Riyadh provincial police, before he moved to the General Directorate of Public Security. The posting is undated.[^23] On October 13, 2026, [[Scott Stedman]] wrote on X that [[Khalid bin Bader Al Saud]] "appears to be the son of Brigadier General Prince Bader bin Saud bin Mohammed Al Saud, who previously served in the special operations section of Saudi Arabia's General Intelligence Agency."[^24]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Saudipedia, "General Intelligence Presidency," February 24, 2021. https://saudipedia.com/en/article/700/government-and-politics/security-and-defense/general-intelligence-presidency
[^2]: "Prince Nawaf new intelligence chief," Arab News, September 1, 2001. https://www.arabnews.com/node/214954
[^3]: Joseph A. Kechichian, "The man behind the scenes: Kamal Adham served rulers of Saudi Arabia with distinction," Gulf News, February 12, 2010. https://gulfnews.com/uae/the-man-behind-the-scenes-1.581564
[^4]: U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, The BCCI Affair (1992), "Abu Dhabi: BCCI's Founding and Majority Shareholders." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/14abudhabi.htm
[^5]: U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, The BCCI Affair (1992), "BCCI, the CIA and Foreign Intelligence." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/11intel.htm
[^6]: Alexandre de Marenches and David A. Andelman, The Fourth World War: Diplomacy and Espionage in the Age of Terrorism (New York: William Morrow, 1992); Joseph J. Trento, Prelude to Terror (New York: Carroll and Graf, 2005), pp. 52-108.
[^7]: Simon Henderson, "The Saudis: Friend or Foe?", Washington Institute for Near East Policy, October 22, 2001. https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/saudis-friend-or-foe
[^8]: "Saudi intelligence chief relieved of post," Al Jazeera (Reuters), January 26, 2005. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2005/1/26/saudi-intelligence-chief-relieved-of-post
[^9]: "Saudi Arabia names intelligence chief," Al Jazeera (Reuters), October 22, 2005. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2005/10/22/saudi-arabia-names-intelligence-chief
[^10]: "Saudi king names ex-U.S. envoy as intelligence chief," CNN, July 19, 2012. https://edition.cnn.com/2012/07/19/world/meast/saudi-arabia-intelligence-chief
[^11]: "Saudi Arabia replaces intelligence chief," Al Jazeera, April 16, 2014. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2014/4/16/saudi-arabia-replaces-intelligence-chief
[^12]: Joseph A. Kechichian, "Misreading Saudi policies: the Saudi king's pick of Al Idrissi reveals key points," Gulf News, April 23, 2014. https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/misreading-saudi-policies-1.1323480
[^13]: "Saudi Arabia names new intelligence chief," Khaleej Times (AP), July 1, 2014. https://khaleejtimes.com/world/saudi-arabia-names-new-intelligence-chief
[^14]: "Saudi King Salman cements hold on power," Al Jazeera (AFP), January 30, 2015. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/1/30/saudi-king-salman-cements-hold-on-power
[^15]: "Saudi intelligence chief visits Baghdad for talks on regional security," Arab News, August 7, 2026. https://www.arabnews.pk/saudi-arabia/saudi-intelligence-chief-visits-baghdad-for-talks-on-regional-security-2653813
[^16]: "Saudi Arabia says missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi is dead," Arab News, October 20, 2018 (updated October 31, 2018). https://www.arabnews.pk/node/1390736
[^17]: Hussein Elkabany, "Riyadh takes 'corrective steps' amid row over Khashoggi," Anadolu Agency, October 23, 2018. https://aa.com.tr/en/jamal-khashoggi/riyadh-takes-corrective-steps-amid-row-over-khashoggi/1290909
[^18]: "Riyadh Reforming Intelligence Service After Khashoggi Murder," Sputnik, December 21, 2018. https://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/news/2018/intell-181221-sputnik01.htm
[^19]: "The 15 Saudis who flew to Turkey before Khashoggi's killing," Al Jazeera, November 22, 2018. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/11/22/the-15-saudis-who-flew-to-turkey-before-khashoggis-killing
[^20]: U.S. Department of the Treasury, "Treasury Sanctions 17 Individuals for Their Roles in the Killing of Jamal Khashoggi," November 15, 2018. https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm547
[^21]: Office of the Director of National Intelligence, "Assessing the Saudi Government's Role in the Killing of Jamal Khashoggi," February 11, 2021 (declassified February 25, 2021). https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Assessment-Saudi-Gov-Role-in-JK-Death-20210226v2.pdf
[^22]: Office of Foreign Assets Control, recent actions of February 26, 2021, "Treasury Sanctions the Saudi Rapid Intervention Force and Former Deputy Head of Saudi Arabia's General Intelligence Presidency for Roles in the Murder of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi." https://ofac.treasury.gov/recent-actions/20210226
[^23]: Arab News, "Brig. Gen. Prince Bader bin Saud bin Mohammed Al-Saud, assistant commander for special forces security at Makkah's Grand Mosque," September 23, 2019 (updated September 26, 2019). https://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/brig-gen-prince-bader-bin-saud-bin-mohammed-al-saud-assistant-commander-for-special-forces-security-at-makkahs-grand-mosque-1558696 Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20261013214925/https://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/brig-gen-prince-bader-bin-saud-bin-mohammed-al-saud-assistant-commander-for-special-forces-security-at-makkahs-grand-mosque-1558696
[^24]: Scott Stedman, post on X, October 13, 2026. https://x.com/i/web/status/2110106692914696402

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@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ tags:
- CIA
- ColdWar
- MiddleEast
summary: "Mukhabarat (Arabic: intelligence) is the informal name for Arab state intelligence services, most prominently Egypt's General Intelligence Directorate and Iraq's General Intelligence Service under Saddam Hussein, central to CIA liaison relationships, Safari Club operations, and the BNL/arms-to-Iraq affair."
summary: "Mukhabarat is the informal name for Arab intelligence services, mainly Egypt's General Intelligence Directorate, Iraq's General Intelligence Service and Saudi Arabia's General Intelligence Presidency, central to CIA liaison, the Safari Club and the BNL affair."
---
Mukhabarat (Arabic: مخابرات, from the root khabara, "to know" or "to be informed") is the common informal designation for intelligence and security services in multiple Arab states, literally meaning "intelligence" or "information." The term is used most frequently in English-language sources to refer to Egypt's General Intelligence Directorate and Iraq's General Intelligence Service, though equivalent security agencies in Syria, Jordan, Libya, Sudan, and other Arab states are also commonly called mukhabarat in both Arabic usage and foreign analysis. Because the term refers to different organizations in different national contexts, the following entries address the two agencies most significant to this vault's subjects.
@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ Egypt's [[Safari Club]] participation from 1976 onward placed the GID within the
Under President [[Hosni Mubarak]] (1981-2011), the GID was directed for much of this period by Omar Suleiman, who served as intelligence chief from 1993 until Mubarak's overthrow in February 2011. Suleiman became the CIA's primary Egyptian counterpart for the post-September 11 extraordinary rendition program, in which terrorism suspects were transferred to Egyptian custody for interrogation at Egyptian facilities. At least a dozen individuals rendered by the CIA were taken to Egyptian custody under GID oversight; human rights organizations documented torture and extended detention without charge as standard practices at GID facilities. The rendition of Egyptian cleric [[Abu Omar]] from Milan in 2003 - conducted by CIA officers with Italian SISMI cooperation - was among the most documented cases; 22 CIA officers were subsequently convicted in absentia by Italian courts.[^1]
[[Kamal Adham]], Saudi Arabia's intelligence chief and [[Safari Club]] representative, maintained a relationship with Egyptian intelligence through the shared [[BCCI|Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] network; Egyptian and Saudi intelligence used BCCI as a financial conduit for covert operations funding.[^3]
[[Kamal Adham]], Saudi Arabia's intelligence chief and Safari Club representative, maintained a relationship with Egyptian intelligence through the shared [[BCCI|Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] network; Egyptian and Saudi intelligence used BCCI as a financial conduit for covert operations funding.[^3]
### Iraq: General Intelligence Service
@ -34,9 +34,15 @@ The [[BNL scandal]] - the exposure of the [[Banca Nazionale del Lavoro]]'s [[Atl
The Iraqi Mukhabarat was substantially dismantled following the 2003 U.S. invasion and Saddam Hussein's removal from power; its personnel files and operational networks became subjects of significant intelligence collection by U.S. forces in the immediate post-invasion period.
### Saudi Arabia: General Intelligence Presidency
Saudi Arabia's foreign intelligence service is the [[General Intelligence Presidency]] (Istikhbarat Al Amah), dated to 1956 by the Saudi government encyclopedia and headed from the mid-1960s by Kamal Adham, who was also the CIA's principal contact in the Arab Middle East according to the Senate BCCI report.[^5][^6]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Mayer, Jane. *The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals.* Doubleday, 2008, pp. 100-135. Grey, Stephen. *Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Torture Program.* St. Martin's Press, 2006.
[^2]: Trento, Joseph. *Prelude to Terror: The Rogue CIA and the Legacy of America's Private Intelligence Network.* Carroll & Graf, 2005, pp. 52-108. De Marenches, Alexandre, and David Andelman. *The Fourth World War.* Random House, 1992.
[^3]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992.
[^4]: Friedman, Alan. *Spider's Web: The Secret History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq.* Bantam, 1993. Teicher, Howard. Affidavit. *United States v. Carlos Cardoen,* S.D. Fla., January 31, 1995 (declassified - documents Reagan-era CIA intelligence sharing with Iraq).
[^5]: Saudipedia, "General Intelligence Presidency." https://saudipedia.com/en/article/700/government-and-politics/security-and-defense/general-intelligence-presidency
[^6]: U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, The BCCI Affair (1992), "BCCI, the CIA and Foreign Intelligence." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/11intel.htm

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@ -21,23 +21,25 @@ The Safari Club was an informal covert intelligence-sharing and operations netwo
### Formation and Membership
The Safari Club emerged from conversations between de Marenches and Bush following the [[Church Committee]]'s 1975-1976 investigations and the Senate's subsequent restrictions on CIA covert activities. The post-Watergate intelligence environment - which included the firing of CIA Director [[William Colby]], increased congressional oversight, and public scrutiny of assassination plots and domestic surveillance programs - made CIA unilateral operations in the developing world politically dangerous. De Marenches proposed an alternative: a consortium of allied services, each with their own legal authorities, would carry out operations with CIA intelligence and tacit American approval, funded primarily by Saudi petrodollars.[^1]
The Safari Club emerged from conversations between de Marenches and Bush following the Church Committee's 1975-1976 investigations and the Senate's subsequent restrictions on CIA covert activities. The post-Watergate intelligence environment - which included the firing of CIA Director [[William Colby]], increased congressional oversight, and public scrutiny of assassination plots and domestic surveillance programs - made CIA unilateral operations in the developing world politically dangerous. De Marenches proposed an alternative: a consortium of allied services, each with their own legal authorities, would carry out operations with CIA intelligence and tacit American approval, funded primarily by Saudi petrodollars.[^1]
The core membership of the Safari Club was:
- France's SDECE, represented and organized by de Marenches
- Saudi Arabia's General Intelligence Directorate, represented by Kamal Adham (the Saudi intelligence chief and brother-in-law of King Faisal) and later by his successor Prince Turki al-Faisal
- Saudi Arabia's [[General Intelligence Presidency|General Intelligence Directorate]], represented by [[Kamal Adham]] (the Saudi intelligence chief and brother-in-law of King Faisal) and later by his successor Prince [[Turki al-Faisal]]
- Egypt's General Intelligence Service (Mukhabarat), operating under President Anwar Sadat
- Morocco's Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire (DST), under General Ahmed Dlimi
- Iran's SAVAK (Sazeman-e Ettela'at va Amniyat-e Keshvar), under the Shah
Kamal Adham led the Saudi directorate until 1979, according to Gulf News, when King Khalid replaced him with Turki al-Faisal; Arab News and the Washington Institute give 1977 for Turki's accession.[^2][^3]
The CIA participated as a provider of intelligence products, targeting information, and logistics coordination, with Bush maintaining the relationship through DCI channels. The arrangement exploited the fact that congressional restrictions applied to CIA operations, not to those of allied foreign services.[^1]
### Operations
The most extensively documented Safari Club operation was in Angola, where the Club supported Jonas Savimbi's [[UNITA]] movement against the Soviet- and Cuban-backed MPLA government. The Clark Amendment (1976) had prohibited the CIA from providing direct military assistance to factions in the Angolan civil war, but the Safari Club financed UNITA operations through Saudi channels. De Marenches described Angola as "a theater for revolutionary wars prompted and conducted by the Soviet Union." The Club provided an estimated $5 million in funding and logistical support to Savimbi's forces during this period.[^1]
In the Horn of Africa, the Club supported Somalia against the Soviet-backed Ethiopian government during the 1977-1978 Ogaden War, channeling arms and funds to Somali President Siad Barre. Egypt supplied Soviet-compatible weapons that could be denied as American in origin. The operation collapsed when Cuba deployed approximately 15,000 troops to Ethiopia, reversing the Somali military advance.[^2]
In the Horn of Africa, the Club supported Somalia against the Soviet-backed Ethiopian government during the 1977-1978 Ogaden War, channeling arms and funds to Somali President Siad Barre. Egypt supplied Soviet-compatible weapons that could be denied as American in origin. The operation collapsed when Cuba deployed approximately 15,000 troops to Ethiopia, reversing the Somali military advance.[^4]
The Club also coordinated intelligence sharing and low-level operations in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, Sudan, and other African theaters where Soviet and Cuban influence was considered a threat. Saudi funding provided the financial infrastructure for multiple simultaneous operations that would have required substantial CIA appropriations to sustain directly.[^1]
@ -45,7 +47,7 @@ The Club also coordinated intelligence sharing and low-level operations in Rhode
The Safari Club arrangement exploited a structural feature of American oversight: congressional restrictions applied to the CIA, but not to allied services receiving American intelligence support. Bush maintained the CIA's relationship with the consortium through intelligence-sharing channels, providing targeting data and strategic assessments that guided the allied operations. The operational work was then conducted by the allied services, keeping American fingerprints off the direct conduct of operations.[^1]
The arrangement also had internal CIA consequences. CIA officers who had been forced out in the post-Watergate restructuring - including Ted Shackley, Tom Clines, and others associated with [[William Colby]]'s predecessor Richard Helms - found employment and operational roles in the networks that supported Safari Club operations, operating through private channels with Saudi or other national funding. This created a persistent covert network operating outside CIA's formal chain of command.[^2]
The arrangement also had internal CIA consequences. CIA officers who had been forced out in the post-Watergate restructuring - including Ted Shackley, Tom Clines, and others associated with William Colby's predecessor Richard Helms - found employment and operational roles in the networks that supported Safari Club operations, operating through private channels with Saudi or other national funding. This created a persistent covert network operating outside CIA's formal chain of command.[^4]
### Collapse
@ -58,4 +60,6 @@ The Safari Club demonstrated that the constraints imposed on CIA by the Church C
### Footnotes
[^1]: Trento, Joseph. *Prelude to Terror: The Rogue CIA and the Legacy of America's Private Intelligence Network*. Carroll & Graf, 2005, pp. 52-108. De Marenches, Alexandre, and David Andelman. *The Fourth World War: Diplomacy and Espionage in the Age of Terrorism*. Random House, 1992.
[^2]: Weiner, Tim. *Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA*. Doubleday, 2007, pp. 353-364. Stockwell, John. *In Search of Enemies: A CIA Story*. W.W. Norton, 1978 (on Angola operations and CIA's role in the period).
[^2]: Joseph A. Kechichian, "The man behind the scenes," Gulf News, February 12, 2010. https://gulfnews.com/uae/the-man-behind-the-scenes-1.581564
[^3]: Simon Henderson, "The Saudis: Friend or Foe?", Washington Institute for Near East Policy, October 22, 2001. https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/saudis-friend-or-foe
[^4]: Weiner, Tim. *Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA*. Doubleday, 2007, pp. 353-364. Stockwell, John. *In Search of Enemies: A CIA Story*. W.W. Norton, 1978 (on Angola operations and CIA's role in the period).

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@ -0,0 +1,145 @@
---
aliases:
- Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones
- Saudi Federation for Cyber Security and Programming
- Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming, and Drones
- SAFCSP
- SFCPD
- الاتحاد السعودي للأمن السيبراني والبرمجة والدرونز
category: "Foreign Government"
tags:
- Organization
- SaudiArabia
- Cybersecurity
- Hackathons
- Drones
- Homathon
- SaudAlQahtani
- Khashoggi
summary: "Saudi national institution founded in 2017 under the Saudi Olympic Committee, chaired in 2018 by royal court adviser Saud al-Qahtani, that later ran the Homathon, Hajj Hackathon and Tuwaiq bootcamps."
location: "Riyadh, Saudi Arabia"
created: 2026-10-13
updated: 2026-10-13
relations:
- type: director_of
with: "[[Saud al-Qahtani]]"
role: "chairman of the board of directors"
start: 2018-04
fn: 3
reverse: true
- type: director_of
with: "[[Abdullah Sharaf Alghamdi]]"
role: "chairman of the board of directors"
start: 2019-02
end: 2019-09
fn: 5
reverse: true
- type: director_of
with: "[[Faisal bin Saud Al-Khamisi]]"
role: "chairman of the board of directors"
start: 2019-09
fn: 4
reverse: true
- type: head_of
with: "[[Muteb Alqany]]"
role: "chief executive officer"
start: 2019-02
fn: 5
reverse: true
- type: director_of
with: "[[Deemah Alyahya]]"
role: "board member"
start: 2019-02
fn: 5
reverse: true
---
The Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones (SAFCSP) is a Saudi national institution whose stated aim is to "empower the local workforce and enhance their capabilities" in cybersecurity, software development, drones and advanced technologies.[^1] A 2018 version of its English homepage described it as "under the umbrella of the [[Saudi Olympic Committee|Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee]]" and based in [[Riyadh]].[^2] Its founding is dated to late 2017 in a 2018 [[Arab News]] report.[^3]
### Founding and the 2018 Chairmanship
The federation's 2018 homepage listed among its purposes "Establishing and organizing competitions and encouraging the spirit of competition," and the supporting of young people in "local or global competitions specialized in cyber security and programming."[^2]
On April 15, 2018, Arab News reported a memorandum of understanding between the federation (named in that article as the Saudi Federation for Cyber Security and Programming) and [[Saudi Telecom Company]] (STC). The article identified the signatory side by quoting "Adviser at the Royal Court, chairman of the board of directors, SAFCSP, Saud bin Abdullah Al-Qahtani" on the agreement's effect for the federation.[^3] The same year Arab News described [[Saud al-Qahtani]] as "Royal Court advisor and head of the Saudi Federation for Cyber Security, Programming and Drones" when reporting the federation's Guinness record for a Hajj hackathon, dated August 2, 2018.[^4]
### Removal of Saud al-Qahtani
On October 20, 2018, Saudi state media reported that Qahtani had been fired as a royal court adviser. [[Al Jazeera]] wrote that "Saud al-Qahtani was fired as Saudi Arabia's royal court adviser on Saturday, Saudi state media reported," and linked the announcement to the official investigation into the killing of [[Jamal Khashoggi]] in the Saudi consulate in [[Istanbul]].[^5] Arabic-language outlets reported the same day that a royal order issued by [[Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud]] relieved Qahtani, as royal court adviser, and [[Ahmed Asiri]], deputy of the [[General Intelligence Presidency]], from their posts.[^6][^7]
A Bloomberg report dated October 24, 2018 carried the headline "Fired Saudi Royal Court Adviser Drops All Titles in Twitter Bio," which described Qahtani as having removed references to his titles from his public profile a week after his dismissal.[^8] On the day of the dismissal Qahtani posted on Twitter that he thanked the Saudi government for "the great opportunity they gave me to serve my country all those years."[^5]
The [[United Nations]] Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, [[Agnes Callamard]], wrote in her June 2019 report that "The firing of Saud Alqahtani reflects some acknowledgement by the Government of Saudi Arabia of his involvement and responsibility. His criminal responsibility should be investigated further."[^9]
### Board and Management, 2019 to 2022
The recorded sequence of chairmen is Qahtani (April 2018, with the royal court title in the Arab News report), [[Abdullah Sharaf Alghamdi]] (listed on the board pages captured February and March 2019, and listed as president of SDAIA on the Homathon speaker page of 2020) and [[Faisal bin Saud Al-Khamisi]] (chairman since September 2019 according to Arab News).
The federation's Arabic and English board pages, captured in February and March 2019, list Abdullah Sharaf Alghamdi as chairman and Faisal bin Saud Al-Khamisi as managing director. The members listed include [[Ahmed Altheneyan]], identified as deputy minister for technology industry and digital capacities; [[Yasser Alswailem]], general manager of cybersecurity at STC; [[Khalid Alharbi]], chief information security officer of [[Saudi Aramco]]; [[Mohammed Bamaga]], executive vice president and chief information officer of [[Saudia]]; [[Deemah Alyahya]], identified as adviser and executive director of the [[Misk Innovation]] initiative; and [[Ahmad Alsharqi]], chief sector development officer of the [[General Entertainment Authority]]. The chief executive officer on the same page is [[Muteb Alqany]].[^10][^11]
An Arab News profile of Al-Khamisi states that he "has been chairman of the board of directors of the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones (SAFCSP) since September 2019."[^4]
The federation's 2020 Homathon speaker page lists Alqany as chief executive, Alyahya as a board member, and the president of the [[Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority]] (SDAIA), Abdullah bin Sharaf Alghamdi, among the speakers.[^12][^13]
A September 2021 capture of the federation's About page lists Al-Khamisi as chairman and Alqany as CEO. Its board list adds [[Mohammed Albelwe]], identified as chief marketing officer of SDAIA, and Alyahya, identified as secretary-general of the [[Digital Cooperation Organization]].[^14]
In October 2022 Arab News reported that Al-Khamisi, chairman of the board, praised the winners of the [[Tuwaiq Drone Challenge]]. The article transliterates the chief executive's name as "Mutaib Al-Quni."[^15]
### Programs
#### Hajj Hackathon
Arab News reported on August 2, 2018 that the kingdom had entered the Guinness Book of Records for "the largest Hajj Hackathon for cyber security, programming and drones," an event run by the federation.[^4] A 2021 capture of the federation's portfolio page lists the Hajj Hackathon with 2,950 participants from 51 countries and 48 training hours, and gives its site as hajjhackathon.sa.[^14]
#### Homathon
The federation launched the Homathon, an online hackathon with a registration period from April 14 to 18, 2020 and an event period from April 19 to 25, 2020.[^16] The total prize pool was $85,000, with $50,000 for first place, $25,000 for second and $15,000 for third. The launch coverage says the judges were "international arbitrators from the world's major technical companies" and names no individual judges.[^16] The federation's 2021 portfolio lists the event as held on April 19, 2020 with more than 10,000 contestants.[^14] The Homathon's English homepage lists tracks for health, remote work, entertainment, commerce, eGovernment, fintech, logistics and edtech. Its guests include the chief executive of [[STC Group]] and a regional manager of [[Seedstars]].[^13]
An [[Alfaisal University]] news item of November 2, 2020 states that the Homathon was "set up by the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones in collaboration with the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority."[^17] The same Alfaisal item reports that a team of two engineering alumnae placed third with a project called "Raqeeb," described as a smart inventory and supply chain system.[^17]
#### AI Artathon
The federation's 2021 portfolio lists an AI Artathon held on January 23, 2020, with 300 contestants from 50 countries competing in creating visual art with artificial intelligence and total prizes of 1,000,000 SAR.[^14]
#### Tuwaiq Bootcamps and Platforms
The federation's sites use the Tuwaiq name for a set of bootcamps: the Tuwaiq Programming Bootcamp (linked to satr.codes), the Tuwaiq Cybersecurity Bootcamp (cybersecurity.sa/tuwaiq), the Tuwaiq Data Scientists Bootcamp (bootcamp.sa/data), the 7/7 Bootcamp (bootcamp.sa/77) and the Tuwaiq Youth Bootcamp.[^14] The Youth Bootcamp description states an aim to "train 1000 trainee during 2019."[^14] The 2021 navigation lists the Satr e-Learning Platform, a Bug Bounty Platform, CyberHub and CoderHub as separate initiatives.[^14]
#### Tuwaiq Academy
Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University describes Tuwaiq Academy as "launched in August 2019" through a strategic alliance between the federation and the university, offering bootcamps and certifications across programming, cloud computing, cybersecurity, drones, artificial intelligence, digital fabrication, virtual worlds, data science, quantum computing and UI/UX. The university's page, bearing a 2026 footer when retrieved in October 2026, gives the academy's figures as more than 800,000 registered learners, more than 9,500 certified graduates, more than 500 bootcamps and more than 60 global partnerships.[^18] The Tuwaiq name is the one the federation's 2019 and 2021 pages applied to its bootcamps.[^14]
#### Drones
The federation's drone work includes the Tuwaiq Drone Challenge. Arab News reported in October 2022 that "The Saudi Federation for Cyber Security and Programming, in collaboration with the German Dronemasters Academy, which has a wealth of drone-related experience, oversaw the challenge's planning and execution."[^15]
### Mentions in United States and United Nations Records
The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Qahtani on November 15, 2018 under Executive Order 13818, which "builds upon and implements the [[Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act]]." The press release describes him as "a senior official of the Government of Saudi Arabia who was part of the planning and execution of the operation that led to the killing of Mr. Khashoggi."[^19]
The UN report by Callamard, A/HRC/41/CRP.1, annexed to the Special Rapporteur's June 19, 2019 report, describes Qahtani as "responsible for social media communications for the Crown Prince" and records that "There is credible evidence that he personally directed a campaign targeting activists and political opponents."[^9] The report states "No conclusion is made as to guilt" regarding him and [[Mohammed bin Salman]].[^9]
Later reporting describes Qahtani as the federation's former leader. A summary of the analysis of [[Jeff Bezos]]'s iPhone by [[FTI Consulting]], reprinted on the website of Senator [[Chris Murphy]], states that the analysis found the device "had been compromised by cybersecurity tools linked to Saud al Qahtani, a close friend of bin Salman and the former president and chairman of the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones."[^20] A UN statement of January 22, 2020, reported by [[CNBC]], said that FTI reported "with medium to high confidence" that the phone was compromised by malware sent from a WhatsApp account used by Mohammed bin Salman.[^21]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones, "About," English page, captured September 28, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210928040840/https://safcsp.org.sa/en/about-us (live URL https://safcsp.org.sa/en/about-us)
[^2]: Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones, English homepage, captured July 11, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180711041742/https://safcsp.org.sa/en
[^3]: Arab News, "Saudi Federation for Cyber Security and Programming signs MoU with STC," April 15, 2018. https://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/saudi-federation-for-cyber-security-and-programming-signs-mou-with-stc-1285341 ; the founding date "late 2017" is from Arab News, "Cyber Tent" feature, undated. https://www.arabnews.pk/node/1314756
[^4]: Arab News, "Saudi-based Hajj Hackathon makes it to the Guinness Book of Records," August 2, 2018. https://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/saudi-based-hajj-hackathon-makes-it-to-the-guinness-book-of-records-1350066 ; Arab News profile, "Faisal bin Saud Al-Khamisi, chairman of the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones," undated. https://arabnews.com/node/1786391
[^5]: Al Jazeera, "Who is Saud al-Qahtani, the fired Saudi royal court adviser?," October 20, 2018. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/10/saud-al-qahtani-fired-saudi-royal-court-adviser-181020125449478.html
[^6]: Slaati.com, Arabic report, "أول تعليق من سعود القحطاني بعد قرار إعفاءه" (Saud al-Qahtani's first comment after the decision to relieve him), October 20, 2018. https://slaati.com/2018/10/20/p1217889.html (English gloss of title)
[^7]: Al Mowaten, Arabic report, "الملك يعفي نائب رئيس الاستخبارات أحمد" (the king relieves the deputy intelligence chief Ahmed), October 2018. https://www.almowaten.net/2018/10/الملك-يعفي-نائب-رئيس-الاستخبارات-أحمد/ (English gloss of title)
[^8]: BloombergQuint, "Fired Saudi Royal Court Adviser Drops All Titles in Twitter Bio," October 24, 2018. https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/fired-saudi-royal-court-adviser-drops-all-titles-in-twitter-bio ; copy at https://web.archive.org/web/2018id_/https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/fired-saudi-royal-court-adviser-drops-all-titles-in-twitter-bio
[^9]: United Nations, Human Rights Council, A/HRC/41/CRP.1, "Investigation into the unlawful death of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi," annex to the report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (Agnes Callamard), June 19, 2019, paragraphs 250, 253, 254(g). https://www.ohchr.org/en/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session41/Documents/A_HRC_41_CRP.1.pdf
[^10]: Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones, Board of Directors, English page, captured March 6, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190306044941/http://safcsp.org.sa/en/Home/Board.html
[^11]: Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones, Arabic board page, captured February 14, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190214120254/https://safcsp.org.sa/ar/Home/Board.html ; Tuwaiq Youth Bootcamp description, portfolio page, captured September 28, 2021 (see note 14).
[^12]: Homathon, English speakers page, captured October 28, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201028164951/https://homathon.com/en/speakers
[^13]: Homathon, English homepage, captured May 6, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200506171154/https://homathon.com/en/
[^14]: Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones, Portfolio and About pages, captured September 28, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210928040749/https://safcsp.org.sa/en/portfolio ; https://web.archive.org/web/20210928040840/https://safcsp.org.sa/en/about-us
[^15]: Arab News, "Tuwaiq Drone Challenge hosts battle for innovative solutions," October 2022. https://www.arabnews.com/node/2177326
[^16]: Ajel (English), "SAFCSP launches Homathon Challenge Contest," undated, covering the launch in mid-April 2020. https://english.ajel.sa/news/safcsp-launches-homathon-challenge-contest
[^17]: Alfaisal University, "Two College of Engineering Alumnae Win the 3rd Place in SAFCSP Homathon," November 2, 2020. https://news.alfaisal.edu/?p=3573
[^18]: Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Endowments Company, "Tuwaiq Academy," English page, retrieved October 13, 2026. https://pnu.edu.sa/en/Departments/Endowments/Pages/TuwaiqAcademy.aspx
[^19]: U.S. Department of the Treasury, Press Release sm547, "Treasury Sanctions 17 Individuals for Their Roles in the Killing of Jamal Khashoggi," November 15, 2018. https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm547
[^20]: Office of Senator Chris Murphy, "In the News," reprinting a report on the FTI Consulting analysis of Jeff Bezos's iPhone, undated (2020). https://murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/in-the-news/democratic-senator-asks-intelligence-agencies-to-open-probe-into-bezos-phone-hack ; the quoted sentence on Qahtani's federation title.
[^21]: CNBC, "Bezos phone hacking: UN calls for immediate investigation," January 22, 2020. Copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2020id_/https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/22/bezos-phone-hacking-un-calls-for-immediate-investigation.html