The Council of Political and Security Affairs of Saudi Arabia is one of two subcabinets of the Kingdom of

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

, the other being the Council of Economic and Development Affairs. It is led by its Chairman

Mohammad bin Salman Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud ( ar, محمد بن سلمان آل سعود, translit=Muḥammad bin Salmān Āl Su‘ūd; born 31 August 1985), colloquially known by his initials MBS or MbS, is Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia. H ...

. The Council is composed of the head of Intelligence and nine ministers. All members of the Council are appointed by royal decree. It was established by

King Salman Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ( ar, سلمان بن عبد العزیز آل سعود, , ; born 31 December 1935) is King of Saudi Arabia, reigning since 2015, and served as Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 2015 to 2022. The 25th son of King ...

to replace the

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...

in January 2015.

History

The Council was created to support the policymaking mechanisms of the kingdom. Upon announcing the entity on 29 January 2015, nine ministers were announced as members and the council was chaired by Prince

Muhammad bin Nayef Muhammad bin Nayef Al Saud ( ar, محمد بن نايف آل سعود, translit=Muḥammad bin Nāyif Āl Su‘ūd; born 30 August 1959), colloquially known by his initials MBN or MbN, is a former Saudi Arabian politician and businessman who serv ...

. The Council's inaugural meeting was held on 11 February 2015. The council played an important role in

Operation Decisive Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

, part of the military intervention in

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

.Simon Henderson
Saudi Arabia's big gamble
''Foreignpolicy.com'', 26 March 2015 On June 21, 2017, Prince Muhammad bin Nayef was relieved of all duties by

, and was replaced by Crown Prince

Membership

Upon announcing the entity on 29 January 2015, nine ministers were announced as members and the council was chaired by Prince Muhammad bin Nayef. The Council's membership consists of:

References

{{authority control Government agencies of Saudi Arabia 2005 establishments in Saudi Arabia