Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate
Encyclopedia
The General Intelligence Services (GIS) ( / ), often called the Mukhabarat ( / ), is an Egypt
ian intelligence agency
responsible for providing national security
intelligence, both domestically and transnationally, with a counter-terrorism
focus.
The GIS is part of the Egyptian intelligence community, together with the Office of Military Intelligence
Services and Reconnaissance ( / ) and the State Security Investigations Service (SSIS) ( / ).
Gamal Abdel Nasser
in 1954, and placed under the command of Zakaria Mohieddin
(:ar:زكريا محيي الدين).
However, the agency's rose in importance when Nasser assigned its command to Salah Nasr
(:ar:صلاح نصر), who held the post of director of the GIS from 1957 to 1967.
Under Nasr's supervision, the GIS relocated to its own building and established separate divisions for Radio, Computer, Forgery and Black Operations.
To cover the agency's expenses, Nasr set up Al Nasr Company, ostensibly an import
-export
firm, as a front
.
For several years the name of GIS director was a secret only known to high official
s and government
Newspaper
s chief editors. However, Major-General Omar Suleiman
:ar:عمر سليمان who was the Chief of the GIS from 1993 to January 2011, was the first one the break this taboo
. His name was published before he himself became a known face in media after being envoy
ed by the former Egyptian president Mubarak 1981-2011 to Israel, USA and Ghaza in many occasions.
On January 31st 2011, Major-General Murad Muwafi
was declared the current director of GIS, after Omar Suleiman
was appointed as a Vice President
of the Arab Republic of Egyptthen resigned after the former president Mubarak had to step down during the Egyptian revolution.
The plan included a major operation whose details are still not published. This operation aimed at getting detailed information of American Spy satellite
s covering Middle East
, by knowing exact trajectories and timing
of those Satellites the GIS prepared complicated logistic
movement schedules for all Egyptian Army
units to avoid moving mass troop
s in timings where they could be spotted by satellites.
and Israel
, every few years the GIS declares the arrest of Israeli espionage
networks, yet until now Israel has not declared arrest of any Egyptian spies on its soil. The two countries agreed not to get engaged in espionage against each other after signing the 1979 peace treaty.
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian intelligence agency
Intelligence agency
An intelligence agency is a governmental agency that is devoted to information gathering for purposes of national security and defence. Means of information gathering may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public...
responsible for providing national security
National security
National security is the requirement to maintain the survival of the state through the use of economic, diplomacy, power projection and political power. The concept developed mostly in the United States of America after World War II...
intelligence, both domestically and transnationally, with a counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism is the practices, tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, militaries, police departments and corporations adopt to prevent or in response to terrorist threats and/or acts, both real and imputed.The tactic of terrorism is available to insurgents and governments...
focus.
The GIS is part of the Egyptian intelligence community, together with the Office of Military Intelligence
Military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....
Services and Reconnaissance ( / ) and the State Security Investigations Service (SSIS) ( / ).
History
The decision to set up an Egyptian intelligence service was taken by PresidentPresident of Egypt
The President of the Arab Republic of Egypt is the head of state of Egypt.Under the Constitution of Egypt, the president is also the supreme commander of the armed forces and head of the executive branch of the Egyptian government....
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
in 1954, and placed under the command of Zakaria Mohieddin
Zakaria Mohieddin
Zakaria Mohieddin was an Egyptian military officer, politician, Prime Minister of Egypt and head of the first Intelligence body in Egypt, the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate.-Overview:...
(:ar:زكريا محيي الدين).
However, the agency's rose in importance when Nasser assigned its command to Salah Nasr
Salah Nasr
Salah Nasr served as head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate from 1957 to 1967. He retired citing health reasons following Egypt's defeat in the 1967 Six-Day War....
(:ar:صلاح نصر), who held the post of director of the GIS from 1957 to 1967.
Under Nasr's supervision, the GIS relocated to its own building and established separate divisions for Radio, Computer, Forgery and Black Operations.
To cover the agency's expenses, Nasr set up Al Nasr Company, ostensibly an import
Import
The term import is derived from the conceptual meaning as to bring in the goods and services into the port of a country. The buyer of such goods and services is referred to an "importer" who is based in the country of import whereas the overseas based seller is referred to as an "exporter". Thus...
-export
Export
The term export is derived from the conceptual meaning as to ship the goods and services out of the port of a country. The seller of such goods and services is referred to as an "exporter" who is based in the country of export whereas the overseas based buyer is referred to as an "importer"...
firm, as a front
Front organization
A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy groups, or corporations...
.
For several years the name of GIS director was a secret only known to high official
Official
An official is someone who holds an office in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority .A government official or functionary is an official who is involved in public...
s and government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
Newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s chief editors. However, Major-General Omar Suleiman
Omar Suleiman
Omar Suleiman is a former Egyptian army general, politician, diplomat, and intelligence officer. A leading figure in Egypt's intelligence system beginning in 1986, Suleiman was appointed to the long-vacant Vice Presidency by then-President Hosni Mubarak on 29 January 2011...
:ar:عمر سليمان who was the Chief of the GIS from 1993 to January 2011, was the first one the break this taboo
Taboo
A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
. His name was published before he himself became a known face in media after being envoy
Envoy (title)
In diplomacy, an Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary is, under the terms of the Congress of Vienna of 1815, a diplomat of the second class, ranking between an Ambassador and a Minister Resident....
ed by the former Egyptian president Mubarak 1981-2011 to Israel, USA and Ghaza in many occasions.
On January 31st 2011, Major-General Murad Muwafi
Murad Muwafi
Major-General Murad Muwafi is the current Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate . He was the former governor of Northern Sinai district, and a former Director of the Military Intelligence Service...
was declared the current director of GIS, after Omar Suleiman
Omar Suleiman
Omar Suleiman is a former Egyptian army general, politician, diplomat, and intelligence officer. A leading figure in Egypt's intelligence system beginning in 1986, Suleiman was appointed to the long-vacant Vice Presidency by then-President Hosni Mubarak on 29 January 2011...
was appointed as a Vice President
Vice president
A vice president is an officer in government or business who is below a president in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning 'in place of'. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president...
of the Arab Republic of Egyptthen resigned after the former president Mubarak had to step down during the Egyptian revolution.
Achievements
In spite of the rule which says "success in intelligence world is a buried secret while failure is a world wide scandal" the GIS did achieve many successes a few of which were released and dramatized in Egyptian TV and CinemaFilm
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
- The GIS states that it managed to plant an Egyptian agent among Jewish immigrants to IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. That agent, Refaat Al-Gammal, managed to live 18 years in Israel without being discovered. In those years, he established a network of spies in various fields of the Israeli community, though this is contradicted by various Israeli sources, which state that Refaat was a double agent and helped IDF to win the Six Day War.
- In 1970 the GIS managed to hunt an Israeli Oil RigOil rigOil rig may refer to* Drilling rig, an apparatus for on-land oil drilling* Oil platform, an apparatus for offshore oil drillingOIL RIG or OILRIG may refer to :...
while being shipped from CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
to Sinai (occupied at that time). ClandestineClandestine operationA clandestine operation is an intelligence or military operation carried out in such a way that the operation goes unnoticed.The United States Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms defines "clandestine operation" as "An operation sponsored or conducted by governmental...
GIS agents and frogmen succeeded in tracing the Oil Rig to AbidjanAbidjanAbidjan is the economic and former official capital of Côte d'Ivoire, while the current capital is Yamoussoukro. it was the largest city in the nation and the third-largest French-speaking city in the world, after Paris, and Kinshasa but before Montreal...
, Côte d'IvoireCôte d'IvoireThe Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...
and planted sets of explosives, had them detonated and crippled the rig. Ironically, this was done while the city was full, not only of MOSSADMossadThe Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
agents protecting the Oil Rig, but also while it was full of CIA agents who were guarding the NASANASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
astronautAstronautAn astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
s in their visit to "Côte d'Ivoire". This operation was published in 1985 under the name of Al -Haffar operation it was supervised at that time by EGIS director " Ameen Heweedy" (1921–2009). - Between 1968 and 1972 GIS managed to infiltrate the residence of the American diplomatic delegation in Cairo and plant tape recorders (refer to reference 1).
- Perhaps a major success of the GIS was handling the Egyptian "strategic deception plan" which was carried out from 01/1970 to 10/1973 and aimed to conceal the Egyptian plans to launch massive operationMilitary operationMilitary operation is the coordinated military actions of a state in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state's favor. Operations may be of combat or non-combat types, and are referred to by a code name for the purpose...
to free occupied Sinai on 06/10/1973 starting the Yom Kippur warYom Kippur WarThe Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
. The plan included planting falseFalseFalse or falsehood may refer to:*False *Lie or falsehood, a type of deception in the form of an untruthful statement*Falsity or falsehood, in law, deceitfulness by one party that results in damage to another...
information and hidden implied data in Egyptian president Sadat's speeches and newspapers Articles. For example the GIS prepared the military operations and evacuated complete sections of CairoCairoCairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
hospitalHospitalA hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
s to be ready for receiving warWarWar is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
casualties. This evacuationEmergency evacuationEmergency evacuation is the immediate and rapid movement of people away from the threat or actual occurrence of a hazard. Examples range from the small scale evacuation of a building due to a bomb threat or fire to the large scale evacuation of a district because of a flood, bombardment or...
that took place few days before the war started, was done after declaring false information that those hospitals were infected with TetanusTetanusTetanus is a medical condition characterized by a prolonged contraction of skeletal muscle fibers. The primary symptoms are caused by tetanospasmin, a neurotoxin produced by the Gram-positive, rod-shaped, obligate anaerobic bacterium Clostridium tetani...
.
The plan included a major operation whose details are still not published. This operation aimed at getting detailed information of American Spy satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
s covering Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, by knowing exact trajectories and timing
Timing
Timing is the time when something happens or the spacing of events in time. Some typical uses are:* The act of measuring the elapsed time of something or someone, often at athletic events such as swimming or running, where participants are timed with a device such as a stopwatch...
of those Satellites the GIS prepared complicated logistic
Logistic
Logistic may refer to:* Logistics, the management of resources and their distributions** Logistic engineering, the scientific study of logistics** Military logistics, the study of logistics at the service of military units and operations...
movement schedules for all Egyptian Army
Egyptian Army
The Egyptian Army is the largest service branch within the Egyptian Armed Forces and holds power in the current Egyptian government. It is estimated to number around 379,000, in addition to 479,000 reservists for a total of 858,000 strong. The modern army was created in the 1820s, and during the...
units to avoid moving mass troop
Troop
A troop is a military unit, originally a small force of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron and headed by the troop leader. In many armies a troop is the equivalent unit to the infantry section or platoon...
s in timings where they could be spotted by satellites.
Current status
Despite declared peace between EgyptEgypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, every few years the GIS declares the arrest of Israeli espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
networks, yet until now Israel has not declared arrest of any Egyptian spies on its soil. The two countries agreed not to get engaged in espionage against each other after signing the 1979 peace treaty.
Declared GIS Chiefs in chronological order
- Zakaria MohieddinZakaria MohieddinZakaria Mohieddin was an Egyptian military officer, politician, Prime Minister of Egypt and head of the first Intelligence body in Egypt, the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate.-Overview:...
(1952–1956) - Ali Sabry (1956–1957)
- Salah Nasr Al Nogomy (1957–1967)
- Ameen Heweedy (1967–1970)
- Hafez Ismail (1970 - 1970)
- Ahmad Kamel (1970–1971)
- Ahmad Ismail AliAhmad Ismail AliAhmad Ismail Ali was the Commander-in-Chief of Egypt's army and minister of war during the Yom Kippur War...
(1971–1972) - Karim El-Leithy (1972–1973)
- Wagdi Mosaad (1974–1978)
- Mohammad Saed Al Mahy (1978–1981)
- Foad Nassar (1981–1983)
- Rafaat osman Jibrel (1983–1986)
- Kamal Hassan AliKamal Hassan AliGeneral Kamal Hassan Ali was an Egyptian politician and military hero. He was Prime Minister of Egypt from 17 July 1984 to 4 September 1985.Ali was involved in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the Yom Kippur War. He was head of the Egyptian Intelligence Service from 1975 to 1978. After that, he...
(1986–1989) - Omar Negm (1989–1991)
- Nour El Dien Afeefy (1991–1993)
- Omar SuleimanOmar SuleimanOmar Suleiman is a former Egyptian army general, politician, diplomat, and intelligence officer. A leading figure in Egypt's intelligence system beginning in 1986, Suleiman was appointed to the long-vacant Vice Presidency by then-President Hosni Mubarak on 29 January 2011...
(1993–2011) - Murad MuwafiMurad MuwafiMajor-General Murad Muwafi is the current Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate . He was the former governor of Northern Sinai district, and a former Director of the Military Intelligence Service...
(2011–Present)
See also
Further reading
- 1973- Weapons and Diplomacy- Heikal, Mohammd Hassanien - Printed 1993 - Al Ahram- Egypt
- Auto biography of Salah Nasr- Printed 1998- Dar Al Khayal - Egypt