After the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq,
L. Paul Bremer disbanded
Saddam Hussein's military and security services, including the
Mukhabarat. As the security situation within Iraq deteriorated and Iraqi resistance to the occupation became stronger and more violent, the need for a secret service became more pressing. In December 2003, the
Washington Post reported, Iyad Allawi and
Nouri Badran, two members of the
Interim Governing Council and
Iraqi National Accord officials, flew to the US to discuss details of setting up a new secret service with the help of the
CIA. The agency was to be headed by Badran and recruit many agents of Saddam's Mukhabarat. The main objective of the new organisation was to counter the insurgency. In January 2004, the
New York Times reported that the creation of the new agency was under way. It was to employ between 500 and 2,000 staff and be financed by the U.S. government.
Ibrahim al-Janabi was said to be the main candidate for leading the spy agency. These efforts drew criticism from
Ahmed Chalabi, another formerly exiled Iraqi politician who had good connections with the CIA, who voiced worries that the new agency might be used for the restoration of the old Ba'athist security apparatus and follow the well-established pattern of government repression. In March 2004, L. Paul Bremer announced the creation of the
Iraqi National Intelligence Service, headed by
Mohammed Abdullah Mohammed al-Shahwani and replaced the GSD. The INIS is funded from secret funds set aside within the Iraq appropriation approved by the US Congress. These secret funds, totalling $3 billion over three years, are said to be destined for covert CIA operations within Iraq (as well as, to a small extent,
Afghanistan). In June 2004, it was reported that the GSD also included ex-
Iraqi Intelligence Service agents. It was announced by interim Prime Minister
Iyad Allawi at a press conference in July 2004 in a climate of widespread violence by
terrorist groups and the
Iraqi insurgency. ==References==