Department of State Security
Name
The Department of State Security is formally known in Packilvanian as luBawaab luShahitishme aluHimayfiyishme aluSuvraan (which directly translates to the Imperial Gate for the Protection of the State). The minister responsible for this department is officially known in Staynish as the Minister of the Crown for State Security and is known formally in Packilvanian as muVazeer muBas amuShultan aluHimayfiyishme aluSuvraan (which directly translates to the Grand Vizier of the Sultan for the Protection of the State). This is normally shortened to Minister of State Security or State Security Minister is Staynish media and to muVazeer aluHimayfiyishme aluSuvraan in Packilvanian media.
History
The Demirite dynasty and the Packilvanian Communist Party both had intelligence bodies that were helmed by officials who reported directly to the Sultan and General Secretary respectively. The Carriers of Mercy, in contrast, had the Intelligence Division of the Warriors of Mercy which was more of a military intelligence organization of the Warriors of Mercy, which was under the command of Eron Dohal who reported both to Amhoud I as the Supreme Leader of the Carriers of Mercy and to the Supreme Council of the Carriers of Mercy. In 2000, the Bedonite dynasty assessed the intelligence structures of the previous two regimes and concluded that the instability of the intelligence organizations of those governments lay in the fact that the rest of the executive branch (namely the Council of Ministers of the Demirite dynasty and the Politburo Standing Committee of the PCP), lack a line of sight of the strategic and tactical circumstances of the intelligence bodies. Thus, they decided to place the intelligence agencies under a Minister who was a member of the executive branch which was collectively accountable to the Sultan.
Historian Basher Khansun-Hadi wrote that the rest of the Princes of the Bedonite dynasty were wary of Sultan Namdun III becoming a tyrannical despotic autocratic in the vein of Gideon Muktan and Thawal Yaladir thus they wanted to create some degree of separation and have a view of the intelligence agencies as well. The Department of State Security was established in 2001. It integrated the previous civilian intelligence administrative structures and absorbed the newly created domestic and foreign civilian intelligence agencies being created starting with the State Security Agency. The first Minister was Eron Dohal who was appointed in 2001 and he was the Director of the State Security Agency from 1985 to 2001. He served until 2006 and was succeeded by Prince Nabeed. Prince Nabeed was succeeded by Prince Lohadek in 2014 who has been the Minister of State Security since.
Ministerial Powers
The Minister of State Security is required to monitor, report on and hold accountable the intelligence agencies of Packilvania, to make recommendations regarding policy issues pertaining to state security, to translate government policy directives into regulations and programs, to coordinate the intelligence community's strategic initiatives with other government bodies, to approve large scale or intensive operations, and to appoint and dismiss officials within them. The Minister oversees the State Security Agency (SSA), the Foreign Intelligence Agency (FIA) and the Cyber and Telecommunications Security Agency (CTSA). The Minister does not have oversight of the Military Intelligence Agency (MIA) and the Foreign Expeditionary Force. The Minister oversees, implements laws and develops policies with respect to the largest civilian surveillance and censorship program in history.
List of Ministers
| Name | Tenure | Life | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Profound Estimable, Lord Eron Dohal, 1st Duke of Lehasa | January 1, 2001 – June 15, 2006 | April 8, 1932 – January 11, 2007 |
| 2 | His Imperial and Royal Highness, Prince Nabeed a-Khunayd Bedon | August 1, 2006 – November 5, 2014 | December 1, 1953 |
| 3 | His Imperial and Royal Highness, Prince Lohadek a-Juber Bedon | November 6, 2014 - current | February 2, 1974 |