Jordanian king appoints new director for intelligence

The Jordanian King Abdullah II appointed Lt. Gen. Samih Asfoura as a new director general for the general intelligence directorate instead of Lt. Gen. Saeed Khabar who was transferred to the royal court and was appointed as a chairman for the new National Security Agency and a rapparateur for the state security council.

Lt. Gen. Asfoura ( 57 year old) occupies the post of the assistant for the director of the intelligence department at the time when Kheir ( 54 year old) assumed the leadership of the department in November, 2000.

Kheir is considered the second director of intelligence the king has replaced. He had earlier removed the former director Samih al-Bateikhi who was appointed by his late father King Hussein.

Three years after his resignation, al-Bateikhi was sentenced in July 2003 to four year imprisonment under charges pertaining to corruption and bribery.