New Saudi security service key to development, prosperity, says minister

 The modernization of Saudi Arabia’s state security agencies is key to the country’s development and prosperity in accordance to the Vision 2030 reform plan, Minister of Culture and Information Awwad bin Saleh Al-Awwad has said.
Saudi Arabia has established the Presidency of the State Security to act as an independent body focusing on the security of the homeland and aimed at combating terrorism and espionage.
“These orders comply with the modernization and development of the service and administrative product of the state apparatus according to the vision,” Al-Awwad said in a statement.
“Among these orders came the royal decree establishing the Presidency of the State Security as an independent body directly related to the prime minister to give it the power to focus on the security of the homeland, the citizens and residents, combating terrorism, espionage and intellectual penetration in all its forms and types.”
Vision 2030, announced last year, includes a number of sweeping economic reforms such as the roll back of subsidies, the diversification of the economy and the partial listing of Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company.