Mansour bin Sultan Al-Turki, the former security spokesman for the Interior Ministry, has been a member of the Shoura Council since October.

In 1975, he attended King Saud University for almost one year, but after hearing about the scholarship programs offered by some ministries, he applied to the Interior Ministry and was accepted for a scholarship to the US to study electrical engineering.

There, he completed a three-month English language course in San Francisco before moving to Spokane in Washington state, where he completed a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, graduating in 1980.

After returning to Saudi Arabia, Al-Turki joined the traffic department at the General Directorate of Public Security. He rose in military rank to the level of major general. Al-Turki served as security spokesperson for the Interior Ministry — the first position of its kind at the ministry — from 2004 until his retirement this year. He was also head of the ministry’s control and supervision center from 1994 to 2004.

Speaking to the “Alliwan” program on Rotana Khalijia satellite TV channel, Al-Turki said that when Al-Qaeda began to target Saudi Arabia in 2003, there was no spokesperson for the Interior Ministry. “Those attacks affected oil prices, and some people had the false perception that Saudi Arabia was unable to confront terrorism. So there was a need for a spokesperson who could make clear what the Kingdom was doing in that regard, and also reassure people about their country’s security capabilities,” he said.