" المجتمع المعرفي" تعبير بات شائعاً اليوم في العالم،لكونه استراتيجياً في مخططات معظم الحكومات والهيئات القيادية في العالم، كما هو الحال في المملكة حيث بدأ التفكير بشأنه قبل أكثر من عقد من الزمن،وتكلل ذلك باطلاق "استراتيجية المعرفة" على يد المغفور له بإذن الله خادم الحرمين الشريفين الملك عبدالله بن عبدالعزيز في عام 2013م. وها هو "التحوّل المعرفي " عنوان كتاب تضمن فصولاً من ذكريات الأمير فيصل بن عبدالله بن محمد آل سعود. فهذا الكتاب ليس سيرة ذاتية وفق المفهوم التقليدي للسير الذاتية،ولا هو تسجيل كامل لكل ماشهدتها المملكة،وتشهده اليوم، من جهود في سبيل التحول الى مجتمع معرفي بل هو وقفة رجل يتأمل فيما أنجزه،وما يسعى لإنجازه، بعدما تقلد مسؤوليات عديدة، كان ولايزال يرى أن رسالته فيها هي قبل كل شيء تطوير الكفاءات البشرية وتعزيز قدرات شباب الوطن، تلك هي الاستراتيجية التي كان سموه أحد روّاد التفكير فيها وصياغتها بالمعنى الدقيق للكلمة. وبدلاً من التوسع في التفاصيل التي في غاية الأهمية والتنوع، ومن باب الاستفادة مما باتت تتيحه التقنيات الحديثة، قرر سموه اختصار النص المكتوب حتى أقصى حدٍ ممكن، واعتماد تقنية "كيو. آر." ،لإحالة القارىء إلى مايكمّل النص المكتوب ويوضحه ويدعمه، في رحلة بين أفلام الفيديو والكتب والوثائق المختلفة. إنها تقنية جديدة في عالم النشر، وكونها غير شائعة حتى الآن يجب أن لايثنينا عن الإقدام عليها. أليس الانفتاح على التقنيات الحديثة والإقدام بجرأة على الاستفادة منها أحد أعمدة التحوّل المعرفي؟
THE KNOWLEDGE TRANSFORMATION Paths and Phases
By Faissal bin Abdullah
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For my homeland, its people, and everyone near and far who has helped me, by a little or a lot, along my journey.
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Read! In the Name of your Lord Who has created all that exists. He has created man from a clot of blood. Read! And your Lord is Most Generous. Who has taught by the pen. He has taught man that which he knew not.
(The Quran, 96:1-5)
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ABOUT THIS BOOK
The term ‘knowledge society’ has become common throughout the world today. It has also become a strategic pillar in the plans of governments and leaderships around the globe, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which began thinking critically about the concept over a decade ago. This culminated in the launch of the ‘Knowledge Strategy’ in 2013 by the late Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz. The Knowledge Transformation is a memoir by His Highness Prince Faissal bin Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Saud that reflects on and owes its title to this legacy. This book is not a biography in the traditional sense nor a comprehensive record of the efforts exerted to transform the Kingdom into a knowledge society. Rather, it is one man’s conte mplations about what he has accomplished and seeks to accomplish throughout the many positions he held. It is his belief that his life’s mission has been to develop human competency and enhance Saudi youth’s capabilities. This is the strategy behind which the prince was indeed one of the pioneering masterminds, and one of its chief architects. His Highness has decided that instead of deep diving into details (and without diminishing their importance and variety), he would use modern technology to condense his writing to the greatest extent possible. He has utilized the Quick Response (QR) code technology to allow the reader to complement their understanding of the book’s content through video clips, books , and various documents and references. Although a new and not commonly used technology in the publishing industry, we should not refrain from using the QR code. After all, bold openness to new technologies is one of the pillars of the knowledge transformation, is it not?
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PREFACE
Once, while I was reflecting on my past experiences and gathering my thoughts on paper, my youngest son, Salman, asked me: “What are you writing, father?” I replied : “I am writing a memoir about what I have accomplished or, at least, tried to accomplish in life. I hope this will help me to give something back and serve my country and its people – even if just through thinking and writing.” Through Allah’s grace, the five stages of my life have all been knowledge -oriented. I owe this to Allah, my family and upbringing, and the teachers who instilled this drive in me. Schooling is essential for those whom Allah has provided with a supportive environment and the direction needed to stimulate their desire for learning and self-improvement. It is in grade school that the seeds of learning are first planted. These seeds sprout and flower at college and mature once one specializes in a specific field, thanks to research and development. It is at this stage that one’s character, interests , and position in the world take shape. A person’s character is built on and shaped by the knowledge accumulated over the course of their lifetime. It prepares them to embark on the stage in their lives, in which they give back. Luck plays a role in this equation as well, as one has to have the right level of desire to achieve this. Herein lies the formula for success that has allowed me to give something back and innovate in my fields. The course of my early life stood in stark contrast to the stage that my country was going through towards the end of the 1970s, which was defined by the vast accumulation of wealth and preoccupation with institutions, merging government agencies, and fierce competition in the business industry. Everyone was concerned about quantity over quality. My engagement in business was defined by convictions that prioritized the delivery of quality projects and long-term strategy over making quick profits and market supply. It was in this context that the late King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz – may his soul rest in peace – chose me for government work. This milestone transformed my entrepreneurial experience into something that went far beyond quick profits and personal wealth accumulation. I was now working in line with my belief that serving the nation and giving back without any expectation of personal gains is the highest and most noble goal in life. Building, developing, and investing in the nation’s most valuable asset – its youth and future generations – are the goals that I have, hopefully, fulfilled through my service to my country, even if just a little, in response to the honor and positions I was given. Harnessing potential to motivate people to create a community that yearns to learn and develop a knowledge-based economy are needed to build up our capabilities, potential, and creative outputs. Indeed, managing our resources and human willpower is the path to achieving success and prosperity.
Faissal bin Abdullah Riyadh, March 2018
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CHAPTER ONE: On the Path to Duty
When I first resolved to write this book in 2015, it was with the hope that readers would grasp its positive contribution to the nation’s growth and development, but also importantly, the crucial and sustainable investment in the Kingdom’s most valuable re source: its youth and future generations. Like many others, I care deeply for our great nation; I recognize its key position in the world, and I believe in the immense responsibility and potential of its people. It is this love for country and my belief in the youth that have been the driving force in my plight to constantly push for knowledge and education, so that both the nation and our future generations can reach their full potential and shine brighter than ever. My fascination with education started long before I shouldered the responsibility for it in the Kingdom. It was, in the beginning, a general interest that I indulged in, until I became involved in the development of the Kingdom’s Knowledge Strategy , a comprehensive roadmap of Saudi Arabia positioning itself among developed, knowledge-based economies.
This was the gateway through which I walked into a world where I saw no other option than to heed the divine injunction to the Prophet Muhammad to “Read!” ( Iqra’ !).
Drafting the Plan My first real attempt to chart this knowledge-driven future was a paper I wrote in the 1970s on Saudi Arabia’s Second Five-Year Development Plan (1975-1980), which I later discussed at Stanford University. I started off as an intern at the university’s Center for Research and Industrial Development, which was, at the time, affiliated with the Saudi Ministry of Trade and Industry. [3] As luck would have it, my internship coincided with the early days of the Kingdom’s formation of its strategy, and it later afforded me an opportunity to learn at one of the most prestigious research centers in the world: the Stanford Research Institute in Palo Alto, California, USA. This was the center responsible for developing the Kingdom’s Second Five -Year Development Plan. The Stanford Research Institute used state-of-the-art information indexing and strategy-building technologies, and I, along with my fellow research interns, were put in charge of the industrial part of the work: gathering field data on factories. Also working on the development plan were a group of elite Saudi intellectuals leading the team, from whom I learned many lessons in quality work. One of the team experts who came across some conflicting data had notably said: “Good plans rely on precise informat ion.” While the institute was well -equipped with technology, it was up to us to provide the data and detailed information – a crucial ingredient for planning. After all, modern technology depends largely on quality input, which ultimately determines the accuracy of its output.
Summing up the views I formed during my time as a researcher is some poetry I wrote, excerpts of which were published on Al Jazirah Newspaper.
O brother, I fear the stream Its current is swift and washes away what we hold dear.
This is the life we live, against our own volition And without any say, we lose our principles. In the beginning, they were visitors Helping us develop;
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Today they continue to come and go Sharing our space Us unfettered people of the land Refusing to let go of the past And sell age-old morals for dollars For we do not wish to abandon our traditions. God will deliver us from this, for He is our Protector And what was pre-ordained shall now come to pass.
By this time, my perspective began to come into focus. I had started my university studies majoring in architecture, but soon shifted to industrial engineering after getting acquainted with business administration. There was significant progress in my research capabilities, and I eventually joined other research centers, including the Stanford University thinktank Hoover Institution and Bechtel Research Center. Research in Policy During my time in research, I began formulating and developing my own ideas, and my interest for thinktanks – the role they play in research, their methodologies in research, analysis, and investigations – was sparked. Both my intellectual outlook and my professional interests started to take shape. At the same time, my interest in international developments began to grow, further intensified by my attendance at The Club of Rome, an organization whose members – notable scientists, economists, business leaders and former politicians – band together to address the crises faced by humanity and then define comprehensive solutions for these challenges. The Club of Rome draws on thorough scientific analyses, research, conferences and high-level events to create concrete policy proposals, and it publishes peer-reviewed reports that prioritize the key areas of climate-planetary emergency, economics, finance, emerging (new) civilizations, and youth leadership. There are, as of this writing, 45 reports published by the Club since its first one in 1972. It was the Club’s second report, titled Mankind at the Turning Point and published in 1974 that moved me deeply and had a great impact on not only my thinking but also my career path. According to the report, the need to create an organic or truly interdependent society is the only way to save the world from the ‘world problematique’ (a complex set of crucial p roblems that humanity faces). [4] Another highly formative experience for me was the time I worked at the research center of the prestigious Bell & Howell, an automated equipment manufacturing and services company that was formerly a camera equipment manufacturer, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The ‘Kitchen’ Perhaps the most important research center I engaged with, however, was the Centre for Policy Studies, a British government-affiliated thinktank in the UK where I spent my time between 1975 and 1976. It was my good friend Jonathan Aitken, a former cabinet minister and member of Parliament in the UK, who had introduced the center to me. Aitken was close to the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who co-founded the center, which itself played a major role in the success of British policies at the time, particularly those pertaining to economics.
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Established during the government of former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath (1970-1974), the center aimed to create a thinktank to help the prime minister have a better understanding of the ministries’ plans and projects, and link them to the state’s long -term future strategy. Here I also met Kenneth Peril, who oversaw the center’s uniquely structured, interdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary membership, comprising ministers, advisors, and experts in economics, politics, sociology, and environmental affairs. Within the center e xists a most intriguing unit, internally known as ‘the kitchen’. Just as a kitchen where nutritional guidelines are set, diets are formed, and dishes are prepared to provide nourishment, this unit was where policies were developed and set. Members of this ‘kitchen’ – the ‘chefs’ – were very carefully selected. There were representatives from every major ministry, generally from middle-management who had experience with different administrations, possessed valuable knowledge of the goings-on in their ministries, and had all-around outstanding capabilities and work performances. These representatives were seconded to the center for about two years, and made up the group that really gave the ‘kitchen’ its positi ve reputation. Responsible for analyzing and studying issues in depth, they came up with the ‘recipes’ for the major policy issues of the day. In 1977, inspired by what I witnessed at the center, I brought the idea of establishing a similar unit in the Kingdom with the late King Khalid bin Abdulaziz, in a letter I personally presented to him in Taif. In the ride with the King and my uncle Prince Saad bin Mohammad on the way to Al-Dikkah, the King’s private evening resort, I explained the contents of my letter and how important it was for us to have a center coordinating the various ministerial plans. He agreed, saying: “My boy, you really have a point there. It seems like every day, new trenches are dug for water, electricity, and telephone lines, with no coordination at all among different ministries! ” I reiterated the need to develop a center to come up with strategies and solutions, like the thinktanks in Britain, and the King said: “So are you saying that we don’t think?” A moment later he added: “Mayb e you are right. Allah has blessed us with wealt h, but perhaps let’s still plan for the next 10 or 20 years. Keep in mind, though, that there are others who will argue for us to use this new wealth to do what we have not been able to do over the past 10 or 20 years.” I took King Khalid’s point to mean that, at that stage, building the Kingdom’s infrastructure was more pertinent than the need to develop and train its human capital. This order of priorities can be confirmed with the high volume of construction-centric projects between 1975 and 1985, when migrant workers came to the Kingdom in large numbers for work. Saudi Equestrianism In 1989 a young Saudi equestrian approached King Abdullah about representing the Kingdom at the 1992 Olympic Games in Spain. King Abdullah was an Arabian horse enthusiast and he tasked me with making this happen. I was happy to volunteer to set up the Saudi Arabian Equestrian and Archery Federation (now known as the Saudi Arabian Equestrian Federation). Equestrianism is not merely a sport, particularly for the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula, home to the purebred Arabian horse. It is also, in many ways, a part of the culture, and with this outlook, I took on the initiative to support the Kingdom’s youth in their equestrian interests. Saudi equestrianism would later become the country’s ‘golden sport’, and our riders would go on to win top prizes in competitions across the world, all in record time. [6]
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It was in the early days of the federation that a group of my colleagues and I developed a clear strategy underscored by a realistic plan with achievable objectives to ensure that young Saudis, through the federation, have the right opportunities and environment to succeed as equestrians. My first task was to establish a talent pool that was representative of the nation as a whole and showcased Saudi equestrianism, and through some rigorous research and discussions with experts, I came up with a formula for success. The first component of this formula, making up 35-40% of the total equation, is the rider’s talent – ensuring that they receive the necessary training and support to reach a certain level of proficiency. The next component is the horse, making up 40-50% of the success rate, and the last 15-20% comprise the variables of awareness, luck, and composure. In addition to all these elements in place, the successful Saudi equestrian needs the support of a highly qualified team for training and planning in order to reach the highest levels of competition and success. Much later, in 1994, I attended the World Equestrian Games in The Hague in The Netherlands as the International Federation of Equestrian Sports, or Federation Equestre I nternationale (FEI)’s Regional Group VII chair, representing 14 Middle Eastern and North African equestrian federations at the time. There I met Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands, herself an equestrian and horse enthusiast. During the 160km endurance day on the final day of the Games, the queen invited me to sit and watch the race with her. As the riders approached the finish line, the commentator mentioned that nearly every horse was Arabian but that ironically, none of the riders themselves were Arab. Most of them were from Europe and other western countries. Queen Beatrix then turned to me and said: “Well, these are your horses, but where are your riders?” While it was a friendly question, I took it as a small challenge . “Your Majesty, our federation is only four years old, but I promise you will see Arab riders on the backs of Arabian horses frontlining equestrian competitions soon,” I replied to her. Saudi riders would go on to win the 1998 World Endurance Championship and our brothers from the United Arab Emirates would take home the gold in various other international endurance competitions.
In an article entitled The Road to Gold that I wrote for the Arabic newspaper Okaz on 27 th July 1996, I contended:
While 1989 was when we took our first official steps in equestrianism (with the formation of the Saudi Arabian Equestrian and Archery Federation), the sport is embedded in our nation’s bedrock and occupies a noble status in the land. Not only does it have deep roots in human history, but it has also played a key role in the early Islamic conquests that led to the spread and influence of the Islamic faith. The relationship of man with this noble beast, blessed by Allah in the Holy Quran, has been renewed in the Arab world through Saudi Ar abia’s participation in the 1996 Summer Olympics – our first since the revival of the sport over a hundred years ago. The Kingdom’s participation is itself a major achievement considering that the Federation is very young, and represents the first step towards the resurgence of equestrianism throughout the Arab and Muslim world. In all honesty, however, Saudi Arabia’s participation in the Games was in complete and, in some ways, lacking when compared to the other participating countries, as we were the only country that had to borrow its horses. [5]
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The national Saudi equestrian team’s global participation in the games was certainly an accomplishment and a blessing from Allah for our nation to prosper. The spirit of this prestigious sport is a great expr ession of Saudi Arabia’s rich national identity, and it is our duty to support the Saudi Arabian Equestrian Federation so it can grow and improve even further. Through thoughtful and resolute action, we can overcome barriers, reclaim our historic glory, and move ourselves further along the road to gold. [7] This strong cultural component to Saudi equestrianism has also been detailed in a book titled Equestrian . [8] The Equestrian Fund Saudi Arabia won the bronze medal at the equestrian events of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, and while I celebrated the achievements of our riders, I felt a disconnect between those accomplishments and the overall status of our federation. I wanted our riders to accomplish even more but was unable to bring this to pass. [9] I ultimately decided to hand the leadership over, but stayed involved with Saudi equestrianism. In 2009, I took on a new role serving the nation, empowering the youth, and supporting the federation by expanding Saudi equestrianism to a more international level. This time, a group of people and I formed an independent legal entity known as the Equestrian Fund. [10]
[11]
The fund took on the difficult task of achieving quick wins. Through reliable management and fostering the capabilities of Saudi riders, the fund achieved more for the cultural, athletic, and social aspects of the sport in three years than we could have ever dreamed. It helped Saudi Arabia win silver in the 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky, USA, bronze in the first Youth Olympic Games held in Singapore also in 2010, and bronze in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, UK. The Kingdom also held exhibitions during the Kentucky and London competitions, giving the world a glimpse of Saudi equestrianism. [12] [13] One of our major social and cultural achievements was the musical The Last Horseman , the 2014 production in which the Equestrian Fund invested under the patronage of King Juan Carlos of Spain and inaugurated by Queen Sofia in Madrid. [14] The musical, which was set in the 1800s and took an immense amount of time, effort, and resources, tells the story of Imam Faisal bin Turki and Abbas Pasha of Egypt, and their shared love of horses. It was their connection that gave rise to the famous historical document The Abbas Pasha Manuscript , which was published in 1993 and considered to be the first major writing on Arabian horse bloodlines. One of the musical’s main characters was Tarrad, the metaphorical link between the Arabian desert and Western culture. Tarrad was played by our own poet Prince Badr bin Abdulmohsen. [15]
Unfortunately, as we were unable to secure funding and support from the private sector, the musical did not become an ongoing theater production.
The support of my Saudi friends and colleagues have led to many endeavors I am proud of, one of which is bringing the Nations Cup series to the Kingdom. [16] I have, however, long hoped for the creation of an equestrian training and development center supported by both the public and private sectors. We have already started laying the groundwork for this, having selected a site in Thumamah National Park in Riyadh that can host a recreation center for equestrian sports, and we have also completed the preliminary studies of the project in coordination with the Riyadh Development Authority. [17]
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I pray to Allah that these efforts continue, that the Nations Cup series also builds up an international reputation and reaches the highest leve l of participation in the competition’s 100 -year history.
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CHAPTER TWO: The National Guard
Life is a boat upon which one sails. While you can use its helm to turn left or right, you cannot swim against the current. Indeed, the right path has been preordained.
It was when I joined the government sector in the 1990s that I began to realize that life experiences and lessons are expressions of a man’s destiny, guiding him towards compassion and drawing the broader strokes of identity. Then Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud gave me the honor of joining the National Guard, which he commanded at the time, granting me the official start of my service to the country and its people. I concentrated wholeheartedly on training the personnel of the National Guard, the Kingdom’s external and internal defense force and one of the three major military forces. However, after visiting its training facility for the first time, I could not help but feel that the apparatus personnel deserved better. It was what led to the launch of our first project: building a state-of-the-art training center to en hance the skills of the National Guard’s personnel. The new center featured a modern design and was equipped to effectively provide recruits with the necessary training to carry out both their military and humanitarian roles.
[18]
The center was inaugurated by the then Crown Prince Abdullah, in the presence of the Governor of the Makkah region Prince Abdul Majeed bin Abdulaziz and other state officials. The inauguration ceremony provided a glimpse into the tactics that would define the National Guard, such as riot control, mounted patrol, and utilizing helicopters to expedite transport and benefit from their operational capabilities. [19] The training center also offered quality instruction through its military vocational program, which we had launched in the National Guard’s Western Sector. Coordinated and led by Major General Mohammed Abu Saq, the program was designed after the recommendations of Western Sector personnel, as well as ‘the South Korean model’. When Korean companies began operating in the Kingdom in the 1980s in droves, most of their workers were also active military men – as part of their two-year service, Korean military personnel received combat training and had been given the choice to either continue this training by working for a Korean company in Saudi Arabia for a supplementary salary, or stay in their country. As a result, Korean recruits stationed in Saudi Arabia learned new skills in construction and craftsmanship, with their performance and aptitude evaluated, before they returned to Korea to complete their university studies. When we visited South Korea with the then Crown Prince Abdullah during his world tour in 1998, our hosts mentioned that their citizens’ work in the Kingdom had been valuable and g reatly beneficial to them, as they brought back with them the experience, industriousness, and workmanship that they gained to develop in their respective fields and subsequently further their studies. Saudi Arabia had, the South Korean officials said, functioned as a training space for their citizens and given their youth serious opportunities.
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A Training Proposal Military vocational training stemmed from the need to develop the capabilities of the youth and make job opportunities available to them. Many young Saudis flocked to military colleges to ensure their future employment. With this in mind, we put forward a proposal for 30,000 high school graduates, regardless of their performance, to be trained by the National Guard, the Ministry of Defense, and the Ministry of Interior for one year. The goal of the program was to tap into the skills of the Saudi youth. Under the proposal, top performers of the program would be selected for entry into one of the country’s military colleges. Second -tier graduates would be sent abroad to address military needs in the field of technology, third-tier graduates would be placed in local colleges of technology, and the rest would enter the labor force. Importantly, all the graduates would learn discipline through their military training.
The vision was, unfortunately, never implemented as originally planned. I hope for it to be revisited, evaluated, and developed to realize the goals we had aimed to achieve.
Meeting Bill Gates In 1998, I visited Microsoft’s headquarters in Seattle, Washington, USA and met with the company’s co-founder Bill Gates. The meeting had been arranged by King Abdullah with an aim to discuss a potential collaboration software for use by the Saudi government that aligns with the World Trade Organization’s requirem ents. King Abdullah had requested that I speak to Gates on two topics: the Y2K programming glitch, which at the time was expected to wreak havoc on computer systems at the turn of the millennium, and the role that Microsoft’s systems can play in allowing Saudi women to work from home and generate additional income. Gates was excited by the second topic and promised to send a Microsoft delegation to the Kingdom to discuss it further with Saudi officials. Before I ended my visit, I presented him with a decorated letter opener, designed after the Saudi traditional sword and crafted in Makkah. While I was proud of the gift as it came from the Holy City, I suddenly became aware of the irony of giving a letter opener to someone leading the information and digital revolution. Laughing, I apologized and said: “Well, it appears I have brought you the wrong gift,” to which he replied : “On the contrary, I will keep it to open the most important letters!” Only a few weeks after our meeting, Gates sent a delegation of top company officials, including the head of their Europe and Middle East divisions, to Saudi Arabia where they met King Abdullah, along with ministers and prominent businessmen, at the National Guard headquarters. The delegation submitted a proposal to King Abdullah on 11 th May 1998 outlining a future collaboration with the following objectives: • Developing interest in and awareness of the importance of using genuine software and protecting intellectual property rights • Providing practical solutions to government institutions for using genuine software • Providing training and technical and advisory services to government institutions • Creating an attractive environment for investments in the software and information industries, particularly Arabic software • Creating a supportive environment to qualify the Kingdom to negotiate with international entities related to the World Trade Organization
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• Keeping up with scientific trends to transform the Saudi society into an information-based society and keep the Kingdom at par with technologically and scientifically advanced nations
The technical proposal had eight integrated elements: mobilizing the project team; establishing a support center under the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST); conducting a field survey to inventory government agency hardware and software; providing software; technical and advisory support; training; supporting educational institutions; and creating a scientific research program. A series of committees were formed to implement the proposal but unfortunately, the project became too complex to be completed.
I remember that Gates would visit the Kingdom years later, and King Abdullah, who received Gates at his farm in Janadriyah, had asked him: “Mr Gates, what did you do to get where you are now?”
Without hesitation, Gates answered: “Two t hings: first, I took something big and made it small and available. Second, I took something expensive and worked on making it affordable and more accessible to everyone.” The Men of the National Guard My time at the National Guard not only helped me improve myself, it also gave me the chance to get to know men I came to cherish as both friends and colleagues, who had remarkable morals, personalities, and faith in their religion, king, and nation. One of these men was Major General Mutaib bin Tafour, who I was very close to, learned a great deal from, and represented to me the paradigmatic National Guard servicemember, in both his physical appearance and his temperament. [20] Mutaib sta rted his journey with the National Guard as a ‘wandering rabbit’ . He first applied to join when he was 17 years old and subsequently got rejected as he was illiterate at the time. Upon rejection, he went straight to the commander of the National Guard, King Abdullah himself who was at the time the Crown Prince, blocked his path, and said: “Sir, I am now like a wandering rabbit. Every time I open a door, they slam it back on my face.” He pleaded with the Crown Prince to admit him. “Sir, I want to learn and e arn an income so I can provide for my mother. The National Guard will help me fulfill my dreams and empower me.” Mutaib confided in me that, for years, he would sit in a tent every day, teaching himself to read and write by lamplight, using his mother’s eyeliner as a writing tool. He would go on to finish his studies and join the military college, and later, be assigned to a garrison in the USA. This is how a man is made – by giving him confidence and the tools to improve himself, as well as the opportunity to serve his country through his career. This was the foundation upon which the National Guard and its Western Sector, particularly the training center, as well as the special forces and riot control units in Taif, were built. I was moved when King Abdullah presented Mutaib with a medal of honor during th e training center’s inauguration ceremony. The major general had been forced into retirement by a stroke that put him in a wheelchair. The K ing had reminded Mutaib of the old days and his ‘wandering rabbit’ story – a man whose dedication, perseverance and honor encapsulates the values of the National Guard and its founder, King Abdullah.
Protecting the Kingdom
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Major General Mutaib and a number of our colleagues played a significant role in implementing a pragmatic developmental vision for the National Guard that reflected the Kingdom’s current realities. Under this vision, an initiative we proposed to the organization’s presidency was a study on improving the National Guard’s battalions, which have a special position in the Kingdom’s military f ramework: they are made up of the grandchildren and successors of those who fought alongside King Abdulaziz Al Saud in his unification army. Our recommendation was to develop the young recruits’ capabilities an d turn them into a reserve army. Each servicemember would undergo a month-long training and work as a guard for another month before they are sent back to their hometowns for the remainder of the year to work in a job of their choosing. While employed, the servicemembers would receive half of their National Guard salary. A survey carried out by the First Battalion led by Dr Abdulaziz bin Aboud indicated that the program, with its benefits and gains, had been positively received. Under the program for instance, six or seven battalions comprising 1,000 servicemembers each are to be formed, and each recruit would receive opportunities and training before they are stationed in their respective regions, particularly in areas with archaeological sites that need protection. The initiative was designed to create job opportunities for them within the nascent tourism sector while further developing the Kingdom’s different regions.
Another one of our initiatives was approaching South Africa in relation to its experience in riot control, which could be arguably comparable to how we deal with the large crowds of the Hajj season.
Our study of South African security apparatuses helped us understand the type of challenge our special forces were up against, preparing us for incidents that can be expected amid mass gatherings. The National Guard must, we soon realized, constantly be engaged with the public to handle these issues. As Mutaib would say: “It is better to keep recruits busy before they make you busy.” I certainly felt honor in serving Allah, king, and country in my capacity as a member of the security services charged with protecting the Two Holy Mosques in Makkah and Madinah. I felt the immensity of this responsibility like no time before when Prince Abdul Majeed, who was appointed as the Governor of the Makkah region in 2000, relocated from Madinah to Makkah to assume his new role. As I received him in front of the Grand Mosque, he asked that, as a representative of the National Guard, I go to Madinah the next day to welcome its new Governor, Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz. I was overwhelmed with national pride, faith, and honor to be entrusted with such a noble duty.
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Developing Potential My involvement in the National Guard helped develop my capacity go build up and invest in the potential of the Saudi people. Through my own experience with the Montessori school system, I value the importance of early education and its foundational role in inculcating skills in children from a young age and teaching them to be self-reliant. This, I believe is the key to success, confirmed by the great skill sets of those who had gone through this system of learning, and who scored higher than their peers. With this in mind, t he National Guard’s training center launched a n initiative to attract outstanding high school students from Jeddah for a one-month training during their summer break. The students were put into a morning military training program that sought to instill in them the principles of commitment, discipline, and teamwork. This routine was followed by a series of educational, technological, and athletic courses instructed by specialists.
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The program had a major impact on the participating students; it was a huge success, motivating and preparing them for their university studies. It proved to us that a domestic military high school would have a significant and positive impact on building up young people’s capabilities and opening them up to future opportunities. The Private Sector On the eve of my departure from the National Guard, I brought a proposal from Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel, the CEO and Chairman of the conglomerate Abdul Latif Jameel, to King Abdullah (then the Crown Prince) regarding the construction of a private sector-funded training sector. After some delays in securing land for the center, King Abdullah ordered that a plot next to the King Khalid National Guard Hospital on Makkah Road be earmarked for the center. This decision marked the beginning of the National Guard’s partnership with the private sector and helped further the goal of supporting human development and creating the right foundation for continued growth. The National Guard pioneered in building partnerships in the private sector. In 2000, a first-of-its-kind seminar was held at the Western Sector focusing on these partnerships and the concept of build- operate-transfer. In particular, the seminar examined this concept for the Al Sharaya apartment project. The property, which had previously stifled the city’s development , was divided into a commercial section and two other sections to be developed and transferred to civilian ownership. [22] The goal was to transfer ownership to members of the National Guard and citizens, and create investment opportunities for businesses. This model could then be replicated in other military and security organizations that own large swaths of unproductive land, which could in turn be utilized to alleviate the housing deficit while stimulating private sector involvement and investments. Learning about The Land One of the many intangible benefits of working at the National Guard was how it helped me get to know my country and its people better. In 1982, I started touring various parts of the Arabian Peninsula. I championed the Unification Exhibition, which consisted of 56 paintings depicting historical sites in the Kingdom. Over the course of 10 years, I traveled around with the talented American artist Gerhart Lippman, the man behind these masterpieces – sites which were also documented by renowned Brazilian photographer Humberto da Silveira. The paintings were put on display at the historical Nassif House, now a museum in the heart of Jeddah, in an exhibition inaugurated in 1999 by the Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed, marking the centennial anniversary of King Abdulaziz retaking Riyadh. [23] I also had the opportunity to document the King’s journey through a series of trips. King Abdullah once instructed me to go with a group of archaeologists, businessmen, and National Guard servicemembers on a fact-finding mission after the release of the tendentious book The Gold of Exodus . The book, written by Howard Blum, featured the famous Jabal Al-Lawz, a mountain located in northwestern Saudi Arabia near the Jordanian border, and the journey of the Prophet Musa (Moses). With these avid Saudi Arabia enthusiasts, we took off on a journey across the Kingdom, traveling to the furthest reaches north, south, east, and west of the country, as well as deep into its interior regions. We explored its treasures, its people, urban areas, natural wonders, ruins, and customs and traditions. Seeing my homeland and its people up close and personal like this made me realize how vast the Kingdom is, how rich and more wondrous than I had ever imagined.
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These travels went on for several years and yielded amazing documentary footage from around the Kingdom. I delivered a lecture after these trips entitled The Kingdom through Loving Eyes at a conference marking the inauguration of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage and the King Abdulaziz Public Library. [24] Both as a former servicemember and a citizen, I cannot overstate my admiration for the cultural role the National Guard played in organizing the Janadriyah Festival – the annual cultural and heritage festival beloved by Saudis and non-Saudis alike – and bringing it to the Western Region, after many requests from its residents. To achieve this, I recommended, on behalf of the National Guard personnel to the Ministry of the National Guard, that we contribute to the services offered to pilgrims and visitors of the holy places, given the location and role of the National Guard’s Western Sector . I proposed to establish a center reflecting the Janadriyah Festival’s message an d goals, with some new and upcoming buildings, such as the library and its adjacent land, to be used as a center of thought and dialogue. The rationale behind this is that Jeddah’s proximity to the holy places means it attracts people from all over the world who visit to perform their pilgrimage. This perfectly positioned us to also attract intellectuals and scholars to engage in dialogue about the festival and what it stands for. My hope is that this addition would enrich the festival and highlight its core messages and values, and that it be given enough time to mature for us to reap the benefits in full. I am confident that over time, and through the National Guard’s generous hospitality, the Western Sector will become a destination for intellectuals, and ultimately, a cultural hub in its own right. [25]
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CHAPTER THREE: General Intelligence Presidency
Fate brought me to my next national service role when, in 2004, I was hired to be an assistant to the president of the General Intelligence Presidency (GIP), the late Prince Nawwaf bin Abdulaziz. My first mission was to develop the strategy of the presidency, an important task that also gave me an opportunity to familiarize myself with the GIP’s various departments and my new colleagues. It also taught me a lot about building team confidence, which was often tricky given the fact that intelligence work is sensitive and classified in nature. With the help of an external team, we used scientific methods and a clear approach to determine and outline the right structure to achieve our goals. After each GIP department drafted their strategies based on the overall strategy, we determined the needs and outputs of each department and then took a proactive step of holding workshops for their personnel. We also invited specialists, professors and academics, and members of both the public and private sectors to offer their views and feedback. This initiative built and enhanced public trust in the GIP and drove home the fact that it is an organization by the people and for the people. Many could not believe that we managed to accomplish this feat, and it ultimately led to calls to restructure the organization to better meet its new needs. The Institute of Public Administration played a vital role by engaging in the strategy-building process until we arrived at a structure that would adequately serve the GIP’s goals and achieve desired results. Understanding Intelligence A very important GIP department that was in a class of its own was one comprised of skilled personnel who can quickly adapt to modernization and development. It was the vital organ through which information is passed, and it furnishes analysts with the accurate and reliable security date needed to make informed and timely decisions. Intelligence must be processed with the highest level of precision. When I think of the military concept C³, which is a strategic and tactical system of command, control, and communication, I think of M³, which is what would be its counterpart in the intelligence services. I often liken intelligence to a reservoir fed by rivers and springs – an apt metaphor for M 1 , which represents the volume of available intelligence to be gathered without leaving out any detail, however seemingly small or insignificant. M 2 is the process of analyzing that intelligence, akin to deciding whether the reservoir will be used for recreational purposes, a fish farm, or a desalination plant to put the water resource to productive use. M 2 allows the intelligence team to identify the mission and its variables, and come up with solutions based on available options to be presented to decision-makers.
This brings us to M 3 , which relates to the benefit that decision-makers see in the mission, and how it serves the apparatus’ overall goals and objectives.
Somewhat related to this, I have a fond memory of Prince Muqrin, the Governor of Madinah, when I was working under him. He used to remind me of the number 6,363 – the number of personnel that we determined the GIP would need to carry out its mission. At that time, the GIP had more than double that figure. During my first week at the GIP, an expert who had a long-standing relationship with Saudi intelligence visited me in my office. Eager to learn from his expertise in intelligence, I asked: “What is intelligence? Is it wha t we see? Is Agent 007 an accurate depiction of this work?”
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He had looke d at me with a vague, melancholy smile and replied: “Intelligence is not what it used to be. There used to be respect for intelligence and it was handled with care. We would sit with an enemy agent for a cup of coffee and the challenge was how to extract information from him or unearth any indicators that could serve as the starting point for our investigation. This first thread of information could allow us to avert life-threatening incidents. Nowadays, you deal with people like suicide bombers, who themselves are the life-threatening incidents. The responsibility now is much greater and complex, as the mission starts with questions like Who is responsible for this ideology? What are the underlying factors behind it? This is the main difference between inte lligence work then and now.”
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Cross-border Cooperation There was a high-level of cooperation between the GIP and Pakistani intelligence. Whenever I visited Pakistan, I was always met with exceptional support and respect. During one such trip in 2005, I requested a comprehensive report detailing how they confront terrorism, particularly border security and intrusions from neighboring Afghanistan. Saudi Arabia was interested in Pa kistan’s handling of these issues, given predictions of potential terrorist attacks in Iraq spilling over into the Kingdom. That year, we submitted a forward-looking security and strategic proposal to King Abdullah in partnership with our Omani counterparts on the subject of pumping oil from the Shaybah oilfield to Sohar in Oman to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. This effort necessitated coordination with our Pakistani allies and an agreement with China. The project involved building a pipeline from Pakist an’s Gwadar Port to northern China to supply the latter with oil and in return, China would express a long-term commitment and pledge to protect the project. It would not only achieve long-term strategic goals, but also be a turning point in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) states ’ ties with Pakistan, India, and China. This experience sticks to my memory because it opened up a new path for me. It confirmed my belief that a nation must be built through the hard work, loyalty, and national pride of its citizens. I felt this as a citizen of Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, the cradle of Arab culture, and a country defined by dignity, courtesy, and a dedication to peace and prosperity. Jeddah as a Cultural Hub My work in the National Guard and the GIP were two important stages of my life, and gave me an opportunity to get to know and learn from people of different backgrounds. This experience also allowed me to serve my nation and community alongside like-minded individuals bound by a common commitment to sustainable development by investing in our most valuable resource: people. This was my experience while I was working at the GIP in Jeddah’s Khuzam District. We had been working with Eng Abdulaziz Kamil on an integrated cultural, humanitarian, economic, and social project since 2007 called the Khuzam District Project. Supported by the Governor of Makkah Prince Abdul Majeed, it was presented to King Abdullah by Jeddah’s Governor at the time, Eng Adel Fakeih. [27] This project was a noble effort to revive a historical district established by King Abdulaziz that hosts Jeddah’s first palace, which itself had witnessed the founding of the modern Kingdom. The palace had also served as King Abdulaziz’s personal residence and seat of government, and was located at the crossroads of Al Mina and Airport Roads, where Makkah Road begins.
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Delegations were received in that palace, and it was also where the first oil exploration agreement in the Kingdom was inked. The district continued to develop during the reign of King Saud bin Abdulaziz, who built within it a massive palace with lush gardens and a historical gate. Later, after years of negligence, King Faisal bin Abdulaziz established the Islamic Development Bank in the area in a bid to turn the district into a beacon of culture for the Islamic world, according to the then president of the multilateral bank Dr Ahmed Mohammed Ali. This led to another proposal we put forward to highlight Jeddah’s position as the gateway to the Two Holy Mosques. King Abdullah had ordered the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) be headquartered in Jeddah. The initiative was supported by my dear friend Prof Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, who served as the OIC’s secretary general at that time.
King Abdullah was also deeply concerned with the issue of the slums in Jeddah, which were a problem at that time, and worked to address this issue to improve the living conditions of citizens.
With these in mind, we proposed the development of a cultural and commercial space, the crux of which was the rehabilitation of the King Abdulaziz Palace, the creation of an Islamic civilization museum, and the renovation of King Saud ’s palace into an academy for arts and exhibition space. The project end eavored to build a ‘road of Islamic civilizations’ that extends into Jeddah ’s historical district and features commercial buildings, shopping centers, conference centers, and entertainment spaces. One of the most important components of the project was addressing and developing the slums with all the necessary infrastructure, allowing residents to move back at an affordable cost that would be cheaper than relocating them. It also connected them to Jeddah ’s historical district to help revitalize the area and build a road to the Arbaeen Lake and the Jeddah Corniche. The main driver of the project was a desire to breathe life into an area that is central to Jeddah’s modern history, and improve its inhabitants’ quality of life. In this context, I remember th e words of world-renowned architect Alejandro Aravena: “So be it the force of self -construction, the force of common sense, or the force of nature, all these forces need to be translated into form, and what that form is modelling and shaping is not cement , bricks, or wood. It is life itself. Design’s power of synthesis is just an attempt to put at the innermost core of architecture the force of life.”
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