The Department of Intelligence and Security (DRS) (Arabic: دائرة الإستعلام والأمن) () was the

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

intelligence service An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objectives. Means of info ...

. Its existence dates back to the struggle for independence. In 2016, it was dissolved by President

Abdelaziz Bouteflika Abdelaziz Bouteflika (; ; 2 March 1937 – 17 September 2021) was an Algerian politician and diplomat who served as the seventh president of Algeria from 1999 to his resignation in 2019. Before his stint as an Algerian politician, Bouteflika s ...

and replaced by the Direction des services de sécurité.

History

Formation, MALG

The DRS was formed as the '' Ministère de l'Armement et des Liaisons générales'' (MALG) during the Algerian War for independence, under the direction by Abdelhafid Boussouf, whose role was to lead both the national and international networks of the Front de libération nationale (FLN). After independence in 1962, and particularly with the accession of

Houari Boumédiène Houari Boumédiène (; born Mohammed ben Brahim Boukharouba; 23 August 1932 – 27 December 1978) was an Algerian military officer and politician who was the list of heads of state of Algeria, second head of state of independent Algeria from 196 ...

to the leadership of the country in 1965, the Algerian intelligence services greatly professionalised and institutionalised. MALG was organized under five departments : # DTN: National Communications department # DDR: Documentation and Research department, responsible for military research # DVCR: Vigilance and Counter Intelligence # DLG: Army post network # Management of logistics for acquiring, storing, and routing weapons and equipment.

Sécurité Militaire

This change of internal organization was modeled to a large extent on the intelligence and internal security services of the then

Eastern bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

Nations. Renamed (), its directives were: *

Counter-espionage Counterintelligence (counter-intelligence) or counterespionage (counter-espionage) is any activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting ac ...

Internal security Internal security is the act of keeping peace within the borders of a sovereign state or other Self-governance, self-governing territories, generally by upholding the national law and defending against internal security threats. This task and rol ...

Foreign intelligence Intelligence assessment, is a specific phase of the intelligence cycle which oversees the development of behavior forecasts or recommended courses of action to the leadership of an organization, based on wide ranges of available overt and cover ...

The first appointed Chairman of Military Security was the colonel Kasdi Merbah who stayed until the death of president Boumédiène in 1978. Then he was succeeded for a short time by colonel Yazid Zerhouni. President Chadli Bendjedid, who mistrusted the SM, dismantled it and renamed it the DGPS. Chadli appointed to the chair of the DGPS general Lakehal Ayat, reorganising the agency to work solely in foreign intelligence.

DRS

The

riots A riot or mob violence is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The p ...

and turmoil of October 1988 caused president Chadli Bendjedid to dismiss General Ayat, who was succeeded by General Betchine. His tenure saw major political change, beginning with the advent of a multi-party political system and the rise of the Islamist movement of the FIS. Betchine was then replaced by Mohamed Mediène in November 1990, who served until 2015. Following this, the Services changed its name once again, from DGPS to DRS. Outside observers have charged that Mediène was one of the junta of generals who forced the cancellation the 1991 elections which the Islamists were set to win, plunging the nation into a war against the Islamist, and greatly increasing the power of the military—and the DRS—in Algeria's government. It was in this period that the DRS reasserted its role in internal security, becoming an active player in the Algerian Civil War of the 1990s. It reportedly had as many as 100,000 agents that infiltrated many segments of society. DRS agents infiltrated and manipulated terrorist groups, and repressed different Islamist groups. It also blocked negotiations both by the ruling and opposition powers with the FIS. In September 2013, the DRS was reorganized to bring more of its power under the state's control. In 2016, it was dissolved entirely and replaced.

Chairmen of the DRS

* Abdelhafid Boussouf from 1954 to 1958 *

from 1958 to 1965 * Kasdi Merbah from 1965 to 1978 * Yazid Zerhouni from 1979 to 1981 * Lakehal Ayat from 1981 to 1988 * Mohamed Betchine from 1988 to 1990 * Mohamed Mediène from 1990 to 2015 * Athmane Tartag since 2015 to 2019

References

External links

Algerians count cost of burying the past
Financial Times. July 4, 2007.
Algérie. Pratique persistante de la torture par la Sécurité militaire dans des lieux tenus secrets

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

. 10 June 2007.
Algeria: Unrestrained powers: Torture by Algeria's Military Security
Amnesty International. Index Number: MDE 28/004/2006. 9 July 2006. *Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada

27 August 2007. DZA102593.E. Online. available at UNHCR Refworld, accessed 30 March 2009. *Martin Evans, John Phillips
Algeria: Anger of the Dispossessed
Yale University Press (2008) *Hugh Roberts
Demilitarizing Algeria
Carnegie Papers Middle East Program, Number 86. May 2007. *Yahia H. Zoubir, Haizam Amirah Fernández. North Africa: Politics, Region, and the Limits of Transformation. Routledge (2008) pp. 299–300 {{DEFAULTSORT:Departement Du Renseignement Et De La Securite Government agencies established in 1954 Government agencies disestablished in 2016 Law enforcement in Algeria Algerian intelligence agencies