Iraqi security command merged into single office under the prime minister

BAGHDAD — Iraq has merged three senior security bodies into a single Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces that will oversee the interior and defense ministries, the intelligence and national security services, the Counter-Terrorism Service and the Popular Mobilization Forces Commission, according to a confidential order seen by 964media.

The order, dated July 22 and issued by the office of Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief Ali al-Zaidi, folds together the Joint Operations Command office, the commander-in-chief’s personal secretary’s office and the National Operations Center. The new office takes on their responsibilities and also oversees border crossings and the Military Industrialization Authority. All commands, directorates and formations covered by the merger will report directly to it.

The document was distributed to the defense and interior ministries, the prime minister’s secretariat, the national security adviser’s office, the Joint Operations Command, the intelligence and national security services, the PMF Commission, the Border Ports Authority and the Military Industrialization Authority. It is based in Baghdad’s Green Zone.

The restructuring comes after Zaidi replaced the leadership of nearly every body the new office will oversee. In June he removed National Security Adviser Qasim al-Araji, National Intelligence Service chief Hamid al-Shatri and National Security Service chief Abdul Karim al-Basri, naming Qasim al-Aboudi as national security adviser and Basim al-Badri to head the National Security Service.

On July 22, the same day the merger order was issued, he named Lt. Gen. Zaid al-Moussawi to lead the Counter-Terrorism Service and Lt. Gen. Mohammed al-Fahd to command the Federal Police, ordered personnel rotated at Iraq’s border crossings and replaced brigade and unit commanders in the Border Forces Command.

Zaidi took office in May.