Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has issued a directive ordering the establishing of the National Security Centre affiliated to the Royal Court.
The Centre will be headed by Mohammad bin Salih Alghfaili, a newly-introduced National Security Advisor, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
The order said the national security advisor shall be a member of the Political and Security Affairs Council and supervisor of the Secretariat of the Council.
Cabinet reshuffles and appointments were also announced in the set of new decrees issued on Saturday night.
On the military front, Prince Fahd bin Turki was appointed as Commander of Saudi Arabia’s Ground Forces while Arab Coalition spokesman and Saudi Defense Ministry Adviser General Major Ahmad Asiri was appointed as Deputy Head of Saudi Intelligence.
Furthermore, Prince Khaled bin Salman has been named as Saudi Arabia’s new Ambassador to the United States, replacing Prince Abdullah bin Faisal bin Turki.
A younger brother to current Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Prince Khaled is a former F-15 pilot who graduated from Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi. He had earlier, in 2014, participated in the international coalition to combat ISIS as an air force pilot.
The young Prince replaces Prince Abdullah bin Faisal, who had served in the post for over a year when he was appointed in October, 2015.
Other key appointments include:
- Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman was named Minister of State for Energy Affairs
- Awad Al-Awad was appointed Minister of Culture and Information
- Muhammad Al-Sawaha was appointed Minister of Communications
- Essam Bin Saeed was appointed Minister of Civil Service
- Engineer Ibrahim Abdulrahman Al-Muamar was appointed as Governor of the General Authority for Investment
- Mohammed Abdulmalik Al Al-Sheikh was named President of the General Authority for Sports
- Awad bin Saleh bin Abdullah Al-Awad was appointed Chairman of Board of Directors of the General Authority for Culture
- Ali bin Abdulrahman Alhazmi was appointed Governor of Saline Water Conversion Corporation
- Prince Abdulaziz bin Saad was appointed Governor of Hail Province
- Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Sultan was appointed Governor of the Northern Border region of Saudi Arabia
