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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Saudi Arabia
Index
Under the king, who was president of the Council of Ministers
(effectively prime minister) and commander in chief of the armed
forces, the minister of defense and aviation exercised
operational control and supervision of the Royal Saudi Land
Forces (army), the Royal Saudi Naval Forces, the Royal Saudi Air
Force, and the Royal Saudi Air Defense Forces
(see
fig. 10). The
total personnel strength of the four services was estimated at
76,500 in 1991, rising to 106,000 in 1992.
Figure 10. Organization of National Security, 1992
A National Security Council (also known as the High Defense
Council) had formal responsibility for setting defense policy.
Its members included, in addition to the king and the minister of
defense and aviation, the ministers of interior, foreign affairs,
and finance and national economy, and the chief of staff of the
armed forces. Ultimate decisions about security, however, rested
solely with the king, assisted by such advisers as he chose to
consult.
Senior personnel, frequently princes of the royal family,
usually retained their positions for long periods in the Saudi
system. The minister of defense and aviation, Amir Sultan, a full
brother of the king, had been appointed to his position in 1962.
Crown Prince Abd Allah, a half brother of the king, had been
commander of the national guard for the same length of time. The
chief of the general staff, with operational responsibility for
the four services, held the rank of general; the chiefs of the
individual services usually held the rank of lieutenant general.
Similar to the organization of military staffs in the United
States, the Saudi armed forces had four major sections: personnel
(G-1), intelligence (G-2), operations and training (G-3), and
logistics (G-4). The chiefs of the four sections were the
principal advisers to the chief of staff, who invariably has been
an army officer. The armed forces were further distributed among
nine area commands. Their mission was to defend the integrity of
the country's borders and to protect the country against foreign
encroachments or invasion. During episodes of severe internal
disorder, the armed forces had the additional mission of
assisting the security forces in restoring public order.
The national guard was under the personal control of the king
acting through its commander, Amir Abd Allah, the heir apparent
and first deputy prime minister. The national guard's command
structure was entirely separate from that of the regular armed
services. Its mission was primarily internal security, including
protection of the major oil facilities in the Eastern Province
and assistance to the regular forces of public order against
civil disturbances. The service was also expected to assist the
regular armed forces in repelling threats to the security of the
kingdom's borders, as was the case when the national guard
participated in the Persian Gulf War alongside regular army
units.
Data as of December 1992
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