The Saudi National Security Council (SNSC) () was the body in charge of coordinating

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

national security National security, or national defence (national defense in American English), is the security and Defence (military), defence of a sovereign state, including its Citizenship, citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of ...

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

and

foreign policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

strategy. It was established in 2005 by King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. The first secretary general of the SNSC was Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi Ambassador to the United States. The assistant secretary general of the SNSC was Prince Salman bin Sultan until 6 August 2013. The council was abolished by

King Salman Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (; born 31 December 1935) has been King of Saudi Arabia since 2015, and was Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 2015 to 2022. He is the 25th son of King Abdulaziz, the founder of Saudi Arabia. He assumed the thro ...

on 29 January 2015.

History

The National Security Council was formed on 16 October 2005 by the newly crowned King Abdullah in response to major geopolitical shifts in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

region. The

occupation of Iraq Occupation of Iraq or Iraq occupation may refer to: * Occupation of Iraq (2003–2011) (occupation by American, British and Italian forces) * Mandatory Iraq (Iraq under British Administration, 1921–1932) * Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014) ...

made the region "a center for reconstruction, globalization and reorganization" with the entry of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

as a major player. In addition to its regional influence in the

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

, Saudi Arabia is one of the leading actors in the

Islamic world The terms Islamic world and Muslim world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs, politics, and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is ...

and has a central role in global

energy policy Energy policies are the government's strategies and decisions regarding the Energy production, production, Energy distribution, distribution, and World energy supply and consumption, consumption of energy within a specific jurisdiction. Energy ...

Role

The Council was formed to act as an organizational mechanism that coordinates the Kingdom's internal and external policies relating to national security, enabling it to respond effectively to rapidly changing domestic, regional and international environments. It had the power to declare war and investigate security agencies if they were involved in acts that threaten national security. Despite the formation of the Council, as with other Saudi government institutions, major national security decisions would continue to be taken by the most senior members of the

royal family A royal family is the immediate family of monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term papal family describes the family of a pope, while th ...

Membership

The SNSC was chaired by the

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

(who is also

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

), with the Crown Prince (who is also Deputy Prime Minister) as deputy chairman. Its affairs are coordinated by a permanent Secretary General. At the time of its formation, other members included the Minister of the Interior,

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

, Deputy Commander of the

Saudi Arabian National Guard The Saudi Arabian National Guard (SANG), also known as the White Army, is one of the three major branches of the military forces of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The national guard is under the administrative control of the Ministry of National ...

and head of the

General Intelligence Presidency The General Intelligence Presidency (GIP) ( ) is the primary intelligence agency of Saudi Arabia. Structure The highest authority for GIP is the King of Saudi Arabia, King Salman. In accordance with Article 60 of the Basic Law, he has the aut ...

. Late

Prince Nayef Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (, ''Nāyif ibn ‘Abd al ‘Azīz Āl Su‘ūd''; 9 October 1934 – 16 June 2012) was the crown prince of Saudi Arabia and deputy prime minister from October 2011 and the minister of interior from October 1975 unti ...

, then interior minister, served as the deputy head of the SNSC.

Dissolution

King Salman dissolved the NSC on 29 January 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Council, National Security 2005 establishments in Saudi Arabia 2015 disestablishments in Saudi Arabia Government agencies established in 2005 Government agencies disestablished in 2015 Foreign relations of Saudi Arabia Government agencies of Saudi Arabia

Defunct government agencies of Saudi Arabia