Emni

The Emni was formed in 1975 by merging several separate federal security and intelligence agencies into a single streamlined apparatus. As a state committee, it acts on an inter-agency level, and thus retains a degree of jurisdiction over government ministries and subordinate agencies as far as national security is concerned, including oversight of federal policing, corrections, and customs and border security activities, regularly taking the lead in law enforcement operations with a national scope nominally under republican Ministry of Interior jurisdiction. Its foreign intelligence operations involve setting up clandestine espionage residencies abroad, and recruiting sources working in sensitive positions in target countries' governments or military. Agents are also placed in Palestinian embassies and consulates, where they work under official cover and are protected from arrest by diplomatic immunity. Operatives typically engage in gathering political, economic, and military-strategic information as well as planting disinformation. The agency is also responsible for combatting internal subversion within the country as well as the international Ba'athist movement, maintaining complex public surveillance operations including a vast network of confidential informants at home and abroad. It is active against the Zionist Resistance Front and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The incumbent Chairman of the Joint Security Committee is Ilyas Mosa, in office since 2010.

Name
Upon its establishment, the Joint Security Committee was named as such and referred to exclusively by this name, with staff for the first few years simply referring to it as "the committee" (اللجنة al-lajnah) when not using the official full name; this usage was mostly unambiguous given the context of the agency's work, with other state committees responsible for matters quite separate from intelligence and state security, and thus remains a common colloquialism amongst committee staff.

Directorates

 * "A" Directorate: The premier foreign intelligence service, responsible for HUMINT operations involving foreign intelligence-gathering and planting strategic disinformation; maintains foreign safe houses and espionage residencies in target countries.
 * "B" Directorate: Upholds political security, combats internal subversion, and monitors political activity across society including within the government and armed forces; also responsible for domestic intelligence operations.
 * "J" Directorate: Responsible for customs, immigration, and border security.
 * "T" (Criminal Intelligence) Directorate: Handles law enforcement matters under federal jurisdiction, with specialised departments responsible for investigating and combatting major crimes like serial or spree murder, child kidnapping and human trafficking, infiltration of organised criminal networks, and professional forensic pathology and behaviour analysis, as well as leading all investigations and operations under federal jurisdiction.
 * "Th" Directorate: Oversees the department staffed by Emni personnel responsible for security which is attached to each government ministry, agency, or state enterprise (called an "A" Department); also assigns security details to senior government personnel.
 * "H" Directorate: Responsible for public surveillance and maintaining the database used by the National Police and other Ministry of Interior agencies.
 * "Kh" Directorate: Handles secure government communications, cryptology, and cyber-security.
 * "D" Directorate: Responsible for detaining and transporting felons and other serious civilian or military convicts like terrorists, as well as operating the domestic confidential informant program and national witness protection program.
 * "Dh" (Anti-Corruption) Directorate: Investigates allegations of professional misconduct, corruption or criminality of government and military personnel.
 * "R" Directorate: Responsible for domestic counterintelligence operations.
 * "Z" Directorate: Responsible for censorship, propaganda and information warfare.
 * Joint Military Counterintelligence Directorate: Responsible for military counterintelligence operations and supporting the military intelligence directorates under the Ministry of Defence.
 * Special Operations & Counterterrorism Directorate: The paramilitary division of the Joint Security Committee, responsible for counterterrorism and other serious operations.

Other departments

 * Human Resources Department: Recruits, trains and compensates all committee personnel.
 * IT Department: Responsible for supplying and maintaining all technical equipment.
 * Finance Department: Responsible for the budget and funding operations.
 * Legal Department: Handles all legal matters for the committee.
 * Research & Development Department: Responsible for scientific research and the development of technologies relevant to state security and intelligence operations, from pinhole cameras to drugs and poisons.