Emni

لجنة الأمن المشتركة Joint Security Committee
Formed	14 August 1975; 49 years, 4 months and two days ago
Preceding agencies	• Special Police (1948–57) • IShD (1957–63) • IAD (1963–66) • LDAD (1966–69) • LKhShD (1969–75)
Type	State committee of all-union and union-republican jurisdiction
Functions	• State security • Law enforcement • Foreign intelligence • Counterintelligence • Military intelligence • Secret police
Allegiance	Arab Union
Headquarters	Kindi Centre 1100 Emni Rd, Bab el-Mutasarref, Nasseria 2209–880
Chairman	Ilyas Mosa
Parent agency	Council of Ministers
Child agencies	See below

The Joint Security Committee (Arabic: لجنة الأمن المشتركة lajnat al-aman al-mushtarakah), colloquially known by the acronym Emni (امني; lit. "secure, covert"), is an executive state committee under the Council of Ministers of the Arab Union. As the premier security agency of the government of the Arab Union since its establishment in 1975, it oversees a great majority of national security, domestic and foreign intelligence, and counterintelligence activities, and also functions as a secret law enforcement agency of federal and union-republican jurisdiction. The Joint Security Committee is governed by military laws and regulations and uses the same ranking system as the Arab Army, but has jurisdiction over civilian affairs like internal security and law enforcement in addition to its intelligence roles.

By contrast, regular civilian law enforcement at all levels of government is the responsibility of the National Police, an agency of the Ministry of Interior. The Arab Union's 20 republics, its federated states, along with the Kurdistan Autonomous Region and the Union's federal capital district each have a unique policing command under the National Police responsible for policing in their respective region of jurisdiction, functioning as a single command for each regional police formation, with the federal command responsible only for all-union and union-republican policing.

The Judicial Police handles law enforcement matters as directed by the Attorney General of the Arab Union, director of the Ministry of Justice, of which the Judicial Police are one of the Ministry's primary agencies. Its responsibilities include courtroom security, transportation of inmates and other persons in custody, operation of remand centres, and assisting the National Police with certain specific investigations.

The Joint Security Committee, on the other hand, operates on a highly clandestine basis, much of its intelligence material available only to relevant directors, top members of government like the President and Prime Minister, and ultimately the Ba'ath Party and its Revolutionary Command Council. The Emni was formed in 1975 by merging several separate agencies into a single streamlined apparatus. As a state committee, it regularly acts on an inter-agency level, and thus retains a degree of jurisdiction over government ministries and subordinate agencies as far as its purpose is concerned, including oversight of federal police, correctional, military, Party, and customs and border security activities.

The foreign intelligence and counterintelligence operations of the Committee involve setting up clandestine espionage residencies abroad, with personnel working to recruit sources working in sensitive positions in target countries' military and/or government apparatus. Agents are either placed in Arab Union embassies and consulates, where they work under official cover and are protected from arrest by diplomatic immunity (legal residency), or assume false identities which are used to infiltrate targets' government agencies and organisations or other relevant hierarchies (illegal residency); both forms of residents are directly and indirectly supported by handlers who work out of the embassy and/or covert safehouses. 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 society, government administration, and leadership of Arab Union, maintaining complex surveillance operations, including a vast network of confidential informants both 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 referred to exclusively by this name, with staff informally referring to the agency as simply "the Committee" (اللجنة al-lajnah); this usage was generally unambiguous given the context of the agency's work, with other state committees responsible for matters quite separate from intelligence, state security and the like; it thus remains a common nickname amongst staff. The colloquialism "Emni" was initially popularised by an op-ed appearing in the 24 April 1977 issue of The Damascus Post, in which journalist Saifullah Zaid calls the Joint Security Committee "that timeless, covert and secure (امني amnī) parallel state" by which the state as "an encompassing entity ... ensures its survival" which, were the former's existence lacking, would amount to "merely an idealised" and "far from realised or, I daresay, even realisable, Arab Union. Being extraordinary, as permitted by government, let its actions determine law, not the opposite as shall be the case with every other public, administrative and governmental institution." Over the following decade, the acronym gained in popularity to such an extent that for much of the general public, "Emni" became basically the singular familiar term in reference to the agency.

Uniform

This is an illustration of the official Joint Security Committee dress uniform issued to all officers. While much of the corps of personnel operates in plainclothes, the uniform remains mandatory for formal events and the like. Additionally, the border guard corps—the part of the agency responsible for physical patrol of the international border and operation of all points of entry/exit, including at airports, which is fully answerable to the Joint Security Committee via its "J" Directorate—wears a less formal, but identical in appearance, field uniform similar to military fatigues as part of its daily responsibilities. Top-level Committee staff also typically work in their offices in-uniform.

The shoulder epaulette, sewn to the shoulder edge and secured by a button just before the collar, contains the slide-on embroidered epaulette, which denotes the rank of the agent via rank symbol appearing on the epaulette, as seen in the shoulder epaulettes of the National Police and the officer corps of the the military. A military-style hat matching the uniform also exists.

Structure

Secretariat

• Consultative Council of JSC Chairman;
• JSC–Military Intel Coordination Committee;
• JSC–Government Coordination Committee;
• Internal Arbitration Council;
• Specialties Liaison Council;

Directorates

The Joint Security Committee consists of 14 directorates, each of which focuses on a discrete area of responsibility. Each directorate is headed by a colonel or lieutenant colonel with the title "Director of X", X being the formal designation of the directorate. All officers are assigned to a particular directorate, with the exception of those ranked brigadier general or above, who constitute the agency's general staff subordinate to the committee chair.

• First Chief 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;
• Second Chief 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;
• Third Chief Directorate: The main, on-the-ground political police; responsible for detaining and transporting state enemies, prisoners of war, members of illegal organisations, and terrorists, frequently excommunicado; rumoured to be responsible for summary executions;
• "J" Directorate: Responsible for border patrol, security of border crossings and international airports, and detention of captured illegal aliens;
• "M" Directorate: The premier anti-drug trafficking agency, responsible for combating trafficking and related organised crime both within the Arab Union and abroad;
• Criminal Intel Directorate: The most sophisticated agency involved in crime prevention and investigation at the all-union and union-republican level; directorate has multiple specialised departments each with unique responsibilities, including investigating and combatting serious crimes like serial or spree murder, child kidnapping and human trafficking, infiltration of organised criminal networks, professional forensic pathology and behaviour analysis, and leading other major investigations and operations under federal jurisdiction;
• "Th" Directorate: Responsible for the security of all federal government ministries, agencies and state enterprises as well as personal security of senior federal government personnel;
• "H" Directorate: Responsible for public surveillance and hosting the shared database used by all law enforcement agencies;
• "Kh" Directorate: Handles secure government communications, cryptology and cyber-security;
• "Dh" (Anti-Corruption) Directorate: Investigates allegations of professional misconduct, corruption or criminality within law enforcement;
• "R" Directorate: Responsible for domestic counterintelligence operations;
• "Z" Directorate: Responsible for censorship, propaganda and information warfare;
• Joint Military Intelligence Directorate: Responsible for military intelligence and counterintelligence operations for the General Staff of the Union Defence Forces, in cooperation with the Council of Ministers and the Presidency;
• Special Operations Command "Flying Fish": The militarised division of the Joint Security Committee: responsible for counterterrorism, wartime hostage rescue and assassinations, and other black ops 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 and spyware to drugs and poisons;
• Transport Department: Responsible for operation and maintenance of all vehicles used by the agency, including sedans, boats, private jets, helicopters, and logistical transport aircraft;
• Residential Office: Responsible for procuring and maintaining safehouses for the Emni's agents and their handlers in all major cities across the globe, maintaining all other agency facilities including black sites, training academies, storage and logistical facilities, etc., and coordinating the living arrangements for and fulfilling all domestic needs of agency personnel.