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Algeria
INTERNAL SECURITY
Responsibility for maintaining law and order is shared by the
Gendarmerie Nationale and the Sûreté Nationale. Operations against
subversives are conducted by various civilian organizations as
well as by Military Security (Sécurité Militaire--SM). The gendarmerie,
active principally in rural areas and remote mountain and desert
regions, and the Sûreté, an urban police force, were both formed
after independence in 1962 and were patterned after their counterparts
in metropolitan France. Both organizations carry out normal police
duties, although they handle routine internal security functions
as well. Military Security is responsible for foreign intelligence,
military offenses, and civilian espionage and subversion, especially
at times of a breakdown of public order. )
The SM operates under the authority of the Ministry of Interior,
as does the gendarmerie, although the latter is considered a paramilitary
adjunct to the armed forces. In the early 1990s, the SM had about
6,000 to 10,000 military personnel equipped with shotguns and
other small arms organized into counterterrorist brigades. SM
personnel are commanded by an army general and report directly
to the minister of national defense. Active in Algiers and the
surrounding area, they have as their mission to investigate and
respond to intelligence provided by the police and the gendarmerie.
A Republican Guard Brigade of 1,200 persons is also available
to deal with civil disturbances. It is equipped with light tanks
and armored vehicles.
Data as of December 1993
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