Algeria urges renewal of foreign intelligence services in light of their loss of effectiveness

Tension is growing within Algerian intelligence agencies over the impact and lost leadership on the most significant foreign security issues. 

The initial hypotheses put forward by Algerian officials highlight the need for security policy reform with regard to relations with the Sahel countries, with a particular focus on Mali, and France following the corresponding diplomatic crises.

For several days, the need for a change of direction within the intelligence services had been an open secret. The continuous failures of the head of internal security, General Abdelkader Haddad, also known as Nasser el-Jen, have resulted in his dismissal and the appointment of General Abdelkader Ait Ourabi, known as Hassan, as the new head of internal security. Algerian officials have described the shake-up of the intelligence services as ‘surprising and remarkable’. 

And with good reason, given that Hassan has extensive experience within the Algerian intelligence services and is considered one of the ‘great men’ of the Algerian Civil War between 1990 and 2000, as well as one of the few ‘security experts within the apparatus who has a thorough understanding of the structure of the armed groups in the region’. 

However, in order for Hassan's appointment as head of the Interior Ministry to go ahead, several dismissals have taken place, including that of General Yahya Ali Oulhaj, one of the most important men in the Algerian Ministry of Defence since Abdelmadjid Tebboune became president in 2019. He has been replaced by General Sid Ahmed Broumana, a trusted aide of the army chief of staff, General Said Chengriha. 

Along the same lines, the Algerian government has also announced the appointment of academic Zouhais Bouamama as an advisor to the intelligence services. This process has been carried out swiftly, but is expected to bring about major changes in the internal functioning of the institution, particularly with regard to the maintenance of the current strategy or the development of a completely new one. 

However, government sources assure that the return of General Abdelkader Ait Ourabi to the helm is a clear indication of the necessary adjustment of the Algerian intelligence services to resolve the current crises with the Sahel and France. 

According to international observers, this series of decisions may be a call to return to the old guard that surrounded Algeria's late former president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and a return to the ‘old security legacy’. The same president who, in 2015, decided to suspend the activities of the intelligence service, a decision that led to Hassan and his entire team being arrested and brought before the courts that same year on charges of disobedience. 

For these observers, the deterioration of the intelligence services' presence and operability has not been the cause of the replacements, nor vice versa, but rather both causes feed into each other, resulting in a loss of control over the security, social and even political situation throughout the region, creating a disconnect between official institutions and the information and actions of the intelligence services. 

The unexpected dismissal of General Abdelkader Haddad (Nasser El-Jen) from his post as head of Internal Security after only one year in office is likely related to several irregularities that the agency has observed in his handling of various cases, both in the political and human rights spheres. In addition, decisions such as the arrest of the Franco-Algerian author Boualem Sansal in mid-November have contributed to complicating and increasing tension between Algiers and Paris. 

The general's ideology, critical of France's stance towards Algeria, seems to have influenced the system's actions during his tenure, which is why the author was arrested without consideration of the possible political repercussions, as he was a highly sought-after figure in Paris for the normalisation and restoration of stable bilateral relations. 

Despite the changes, Algerian society continues to question such sudden changes in the hierarchy of institutions so highly valued by the intelligence services.