He was addressing a conference on direction and guidance held at the council.

Jalalah said the youths would be trained on different ways to protect the security of the country and safeguard its properties and gains, strengthen the concept of moderation and curb extremism.

“The council has approved the subject of intellectual security in its training programs in order to protect trainees from deviant thoughts,” he added.

Supervisor of direction and guidance in the council Naif Al-Bihairan said the conference was aimed at providing participants with advanced skills.

He said the conference discussed the impact of guidance in training, the mechanisms of direction and guidance and means of further encouraging trainees to be socially responsible.

A representative for the Interior Ministry said in his speech before the conference that the Kingdom was applying comprehensive programs focusing on guidance and intellectual security to all sectors of civil society including student and vocational trade unions, worker syndications, electoral councils and chambers of commerce and industry in addition to literary and sports clubs and religious and welfare societies.

The Kingdom has already implemented a number of policies aimed at achieving intellectual security and fighting deviant ideologies.

A study conducted by researcher Dr. Haya bint Ismail Al-Sheikh said abandoning moderation and adopting extremism would be detrimental to Islam. “The intellectual invasion is more dangerous than military invasion because you cannot feel or see it, so you will not be prepared to fight back,” she said.