So, let’s talk about Egypt’s National Security Agency ( جهاز امن الدولة ) 🇪🇬 It’s Egypt’s top internal security-intelligence agency (similar to Russia’s FSB) & goes under the Ministry of Interior yet tends to be independent & is the strongest force in the ministry itself in fact the Interior Minister is usually the former NSA boss. The NSA has a wide range of roles from counter-terror & counter-intelligence to political security (you know what I mean right?). It keeps all political groups under surveillance from the opposition, to the Islamists, journalists, government officials, business people, as well as all the ministries. It also includes noteworthy SOF personnel like HRF & Black Cobra which are a bit hyper-aggressive (no offense to the ones on here….)

Hostage Rescue Forces (HRF)…likely my favorite SOF division in Egypt & ironically its part of the Interior Ministry’s NSA rather than the EAF or GIS. It’s focused on counter-terror ops, high-profile protective services, high-risk law enforcement, hostage rescue, high-risk

Caught this from Egypt’s State TV a decade or so ago, it shows some sort of SOF personnel though it’s not clarified if they’re NSA, GIS, or Military Intelligence, only states that they’re counter-terror & that they’d been operating abroad. It’s very hard in Egypt to tell who’s

Surveillance, wiretapping, hacking, code-breaking, bugging…this surveillance kit that looks straight out of James Bond was actually captured by military-backed protesters from the NSA’s HQ in Nasr City (Cairo) in March 2011. Egypt’s intelligence community is one massive

This is a surveillance room underground at the NSA’s HQ it seems to be linked to footage from many different surveillance cameras…honestly Egypt is the ultimate intelligence state the country is straight out of a Netflix spy thriller

Now, this is where things get dark, these are underground prisons (detention facilities) at two of the NSA’s HQ’s the walls are blast & sound proof…this is where the ugly stuff takes place. This is where people of interest are “interrogated” (literally anyone from dissidents who

This seems like some sort of interrogation room….

These were massive amounts of data & archives from the 1950’s-onwards at NSA sites in Cairo & Alexandria. Everything about everything from Nasser’s Egypt to investigations & ops & incriminating info & how the NSA really works & watches Egypt internally. Most interesting to me is

The State Security & Investigations (SSIS) officers actually did cleverly get rid of many of the documents via shredding them in 2011 before anyone (including Military Intelligence) could get their hands on them…yet they never had time to get rid of all of them across the

The files were extremely interesting they detailed their assessments of the country’s economic, political, social, and geopolitical situation. Regional governments also seem to have been under their watch to some extent & so were all Islamist & political groups in general (we had

“External Security” is actually one of NSA’s divisions & works very closely with the General Intelligence Service, in some ways under their guise. One of the most notable alumni is none other than Habib El Adly himself back when he worked in the SSIS-turned-NSA before

Arguably the most notorious NSA figure of the post-2011 era has been General Mahmoud Shaarawy who for years was using the cover name “Mohamed Lashin” during his career at the NSA under Mubarak’s tenure. He really oversaw the comeback of the NSA under Sisi’s leadership ever since

There’s also the NSA’s “Technical Assistance Department” which conducts communications surveillance, wiretapping, hacking, code-breaking & spying on dissidents, government officials (including the military & other services) as well as regional officials. Used to be headed by

“Extremism” is the strongest & most powerful division (most highly paid too) within the NSA they are the umbrella group that oversees Islamist movements both internally and externally. They’re based at the largest segment of the NSA’s Nasr City HQ (circled here) and they work

I always found the random storming of the State Security hubs in March 2011 highly suspicious…it’s strange that the military was assisting protesters in taking over those HQ’s in Cairo/Alexandria & that Military Intelligence (then headed by Mr Sisi) confiscated the files &

The NSA does have other divisions & sub-groups, I mainly covered a few interesting ones (in my view at least). Do keep in mind that Egypt’s largest & strongest intelligence service (in terms of employed personnel & capacity/talent & influence) is the GIS & it’s budget is widely

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