Jordanian King Abdullah II has appointed Major General Ahmed Husni as the new Director of the country’s General Intelligence Department (GID), replacing Lieutenant General Adnan al-Jundi.

The new director, who held major positions in the past, has served as director of Amman’s intelligence at the rank of brigadier general for five years, during which the Kingdom witnessed wide changes in street demands.

Husni took over his duties as part of efforts to accomplish the development of the General Intelligence Service and its structure, within the criteria of enhancing the efficiency of the department, which is the most connected to the constitutional state institutions, security sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Sources added that the move comes as part of changes that include the nature of work of some state institutions whose performance has recently deteriorated.

Husni had joined the GID in the early 1980s, and sources said he was one of its operations officers. He served as director of the Department of Foreign Affairs before becoming director of Amman’s Intelligence Department and then the most prominent assistant to Jundi.

King Abdullah’s decision comes one week after making major changes within the Royal Court.

He appointed Bishr al-Khasawneh as his communication and coordination adviser, Kamal al-Nasser as the policies and information adviser and Manar al-Dabbas and Mohammed al-Assass as his general advisers.

Political sources in Amman spoke of imminent changes in the leadership of the security services.

“These changes will include restructuring official media sectors to enhance communication with public opinion after the decline in the impact of official media institutions in transferring news and information,” said Jordanian officials.

They explained that the decline is due to the dominance of social media sites which lack accuracy and credibility.