SANAA, 10 June 2005 — Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh appointed his secretary to head the country’s top intelligence body that was established in 2002 to help combat terrorism, the official Saba news agency said in a report yesterday.
The nomination of Muhammad Ali Al-Anessi as chairman of the National Security Agency was made public during coverage of a meeting between Saleh and visiting Secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council for National Security Hassan Rowhani.
Saba did not say when the appointment was made. Al-Anessi would also keep his old post as head of Saleh’s office, which he has held since the mid-1980s.
The National Security Agency was founded in August 2002 to gather and analyze intelligence data relating to national security. It is entrusted with coordinating the work of other state and military intelligence services and building closer ties with other foreign security organizations.
Yemen has been closely cooperating with the United States in the war against terrorism since the September 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.
Rowhani held talks with Saleh on Iran’s nuclear activities and assured the Yemeni leader that Iran will use the atomic energy only for civic purposes.
