Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud (; born 2 March 1949) is a member of the Saudi royal family, military officer, and retired diplomat who served as Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States from 1983 to 2005. He is the grandson of Saudi King Abdulaziz.

From 2005 to 2015, Bandar served as secretary general of the National Security Council and was director general of the Saudi Intelligence Agency from 2012 to 2014. From 2014 to 2015, he was King Abdullah's special envoy.

Early life

Bandar is legally stated to have been born on 2 March 1949 in Taif, Saudi Arabia. By his own account, and researchers', his actual date of birth is later. He had reportedly overstated his age on official documents to enter the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) as a teenager.

Bandar's parents were Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz and his Ethiopian concubine Khiziran. Both of Bandar's parents were very young at the time of his birth: his mother Khiziran was just sixteen, and was working as a maid in the palace when she first came in contact with Sultan, who was 23. The royal family provided Khiziran with a generous monthly pension after Bandar was born, but told her to take her child and live with her own family.

Education

Bandar graduated from the Royal Air Force College Cranwell in 1969. He received additional training at Maxwell Air Force Base and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. Afterward, he received a master's degree in international public policy at the Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.

One of his classmates in Cranwell was Bandar bin Faisal, son of King Faisal and his future brother-in-law who graduated in 1967.

Initial career

thumbnail|Prince Bandar c. 1980s|180px

In the RSAF, Bandar rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. His diplomatic career began in 1978 when he was appointed the King Khalid's personal envoy. He successfully lobbied the United States Congress to approve the sale of F-15s to Saudi Arabia. In the Oval Office, U.S. president Jimmy Carter advised him to win the support of then-California governor Ronald Reagan. He did and in exchange helped Carter win the support of Senator James Abourezk for the Panama Canal treaty. Crown Prince Fahd made Bandar an emissary to Carter and granted him permission to act independently of the Saudi-U.S. ambassador. replacing Faisal Alhegelan in the post. During his tenure as ambassador and, before that, the king's personal envoy to Washington, he dealt with five U.S. presidents, ten secretaries of state, eleven national security advisers, sixteen sessions of Congress, and the media. He had extensive influence in the U.S. At the pinnacle of his career, he served both "as the King's exclusive messenger and the White House's errand boy". The U.S. is widely seen as one of Saudi Arabia's most essential allies, but different members of the royal family feel different mixtures of trust and suspicion of the U.S. Therefore, Prince Bandar's intimate relationships with U.S. leaders and policy-makers are considered to be both the source of his power base in the kingdom, as well as the cause of suspicions within the royal family that he is too close to U.S. political figures.

Reagan era

thumb|right|Prince Bandar with [[U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1986]]

thumb|right|Prince Bandar with US President [[George H. W. Bush in 1991]]

thumb|right|Prince Bandar with US President [[George W. Bush in 2002]]

During the Reagan Era, he secured the purchase of AWACs surveillance aircraft despite opposition from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The Al-Yamamah arms deal between Britain and Saudi Arabia included diverting hundreds of millions of pounds stretching over more than a decade to Prince Bandar through a Saudi Arabian government bank account at Riggs Bank, but some of the money was used to fund secret CIA projects off-the-budget. According Robert Lacey these payments to Prince Bandar amounted to more than a billion pounds. After the U.S. rejected an arms order, he arranged the delivery of intermediate-range nuclear-warhead-capable missiles from China.

Bush presidencies

Bandar formed close relationships with several American presidents, notably George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, his closeness to the latter gaining him the affectionate and controversial nickname 'Bandar Bush'. His particularly close relationship with the Bush family was highlighted in Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. He was reportedly so close to George H. W. Bush that he was often described as a member of the former president's family. He advocated Saddam Hussein's overthrow in Iraq in March 2003. He encouraged military action against Iraq and supported Dick Cheney's agenda for "The New Middle East", which called for pro-democracy programs in both Syria and Iran. The official end date of his term was 8 September 2005.

Prince Bandar was succeeded as ambassador by Prince Turki Al Faisal.

Bandar secretly met with U.S. officials in 2006 after resigning as ambassador. Seymour Hersh reported in 2007 in The New Yorker that as Saudi Arabia's national security adviser, Bandar continued to meet privately with both George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. At that time Hersh described Bandar as a key architect of the Bush administration policy in Iraq and the Middle East. After tensions with Qatar over supplying rebel groups, Saudi Arabia (under Bandar's leadership of its Syria policy) switched its efforts from Turkey to Jordan in 2012, using its financial leverage over Jordan to develop training facilities there, with Bandar sending his half-brother and deputy Salman bin Sultan to oversee them. His term ended on 29 January 2015. The office was also abolished on the same day.

Disappearance and rumors

After King Abdullah renewed Bandar's post on the National Security Council for an additional 4-year term in September 2009, Bandar failed to make the customary public demonstration of his allegiance to him. he has no spokesman.

Iran's Press TV reported that Bandar was under house arrest for an attempted coup. Saudi opposition sources said he was in Dhaban Prison.

In what was perceived as a return to prominence, in March 2011, Bandar was sent to Pakistan, India, Malaysia, and China to gather support for Saudi Arabia's military intervention in Bahrain.

The other goal of his late March 2011 visit to Islamabad was to raise the prospect of a return engagement for the Pakistan Army. The goal was achieved, and Pakistan quickly approved the proposal. His visit to China during the same period resulted in the issuing of lucrative contracts in return for political support. Since China was not a friend of the Arab Spring, it was eager for Saudi oil and investment. Bandar secretly negotiated the first big Saudi-Chinese arms deal. Thus, Bandar was the Kingdom's premier China expert. Although no official reason for the appointment was provided, the appointment occurred after growing tension between Sunnis and Shiites in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. It was also considered as a move of Saudi Arabia to display more aggressive foreign policy given the regional challenges that came from Iran and Syria. Prince Bandar is also a member of the Military Service Council.

Bandar organised the visit of Manaf Tlass, who defected from Syria on 6 July 2012, to Saudi Arabia in the last week of July 2012.

In 2013, Bandar said that the Saudis would "shift away" from the U.S. over Syrian and Iranian policy.

According to a number of articles, Bandar, allegedly confronted Russian president Vladimir Putin in a bid to break the deadlock over Syria. This included security of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi if there was no accord. "I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics next year. The Chechen groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by us," he allegedly said. Putin then rejected the proposal furiously by saying "we know that you have supported the Chechen terrorist groups for a decade. And that support, which you have frankly talked about just now, is completely incompatible with the common objectives of fighting global terrorism that you mentioned."

Bandar had been tasked with managing Saudi policy in the Syrian civil war, but he was replaced in early 2014 by interior minister Prince Muhammad bin Nayef. Bandar took a confrontational tone with the U.S. and was called a "problem" privately by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. However, Bandar had also been struggling with poor health stemming from the 1977 plane crash, leading to speculation that this was why he was replaced.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki reportedly complained about secret Saudi Arabian support for militant groups, saying: "They are attacking Iraq, through Syria and in a direct way, and they announced war on Iraq, as they announced it on Syria, and unfortunately it is on a sectarian and political basis."

Assassination rumors

In July 2012, the rumours of his assassination were reported by DEBKAfile and later published in Tehran Times. This news was denied by Arab News and the journalist David Ignatius.

In August 2013, The Wall Street Journal reported that Bandar had been appointed to lead Saudi Arabia's efforts to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. According these reports Bandar acted as the lynchpin in arming the jihadis fighting Assad. The CIA considered this a sign of how serious Saudi Arabia was about this aim.

On 15 April 2014, Bandar was removed from his position "at his own request" according to the announcement in the Saudi state media. He remained as secretary general of the National Security Council until it was abolished in January 2015.

Views

Bandar considers himself an American Hamiltonian conservative.

Bandar argued some researchers "learn to speak a few words of Arabic and call themselves experts about the affairs of my country."

Honours and awards

Bandar is the recipient of the Order of Abdulaziz Al Saud, the Hawk Flying Medal of Aviation, and the King Faisal Medal.

Controversy

Bandar endured controversy over allegations in the book Plan of Attack by Bob Woodward that George W. Bush informed him of the decision to invade Iraq ahead of Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Bandar helped negotiate the 1985 Al Yamamah deal, a series of massive arms sales by the UK to Saudi Arabia worth £40 billion, including the sale of more than 100 warplanes. After the deal was signed, British arms manufacturer British Aerospace (now BAE Systems) allegedly funnelled secret payments of at least £1 billion into two Saudi embassy accounts in Washington, in yearly installments of up to £120 million over at least 10 years. He allegedly took money for personal use out of the accounts, as the purpose of one of the accounts was to pay the operating expenses of his private Airbus A340. According to investigators, there was "no distinction between the accounts of the embassy, or official government accounts [...], and the accounts of the royal family." The payments were discovered during a Serious Fraud Office investigation, which was stopped in December 2006 by attorney general Lord Goldsmith. In 2009, he hired Louis Freeh as his legal representative during the scandal.

A court affidavit filed on 3 February 2015 claims that Zacarias Moussaoui was a courier between Osama bin Laden and Turki bin Faisal Al Saud in the late 1990s, and that Turki introduced Moussaoui to Bandar. Zacarias Moussaoui stated on oath and wrote to Judge George B. Daniels that Saudi royal family members, including Prince Bandar, donated to Al-Qaeda and helped finance the 11 September attacks (9/11). The Saudi government continues to deny any involvement in the 9/11 plot, and claims there is no evidence to support Moussaoui's allegations in spite of numerous previous intense investigations, noting that Moussaoui's own lawyers presented evidence of his mental incompetence during his trial., with whom he had eight children: four sons and four daughters. is the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the U.S., being the first woman to hold such position in the Kingdom. His son Khalid is the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the U.K. and is married to Lucy Cuthbert, niece of Ralph Percy, 12th Duke of Northumberland. Another of his sons, Faisal, has been the president of the Saudi Arabian Federation for Electronic and Intellectual Sports (SAFEIS) and the Arab eSports Federation since 2017.

The youngest two (Hussa and Abdulaziz) attended Potomac School in McLean, Virginia, while living in Washington from 2001 to 2005. Abdulaziz also attended Abingdon School from 2008 to 2010.

Habits and health concerns

Known for his cigar smoking, he usually wears European clothes, and he likes American colloquialisms and American history. His health problems were reported to have continued into the 2010s, often being treated abroad.

Property

He travels frequently on his private Airbus A340.

Bandar owned an estate with a 32-room house in Aspen, Colorado. He bought the land in 1989 and built the residence in 1991. The purported reason for the sale is that Bandar was too busy to enjoy the mansion. Finally, he sold his Aspen ranch for $49 million to Starwood Mountain Ranch LLC in June 2012. It is reported that billionaire John Paulson bought Hala Ranch, and Paulson confirmed this.

Membership

Bandar is a board member of the Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Foundation.

Donations

In 1990, Bandar donated an unknown amount to finance construction of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies (OCIS) in Oxford, England.

References

  • October 2020 Al Arabiya interview: Full transcript: Prince Bandar bin Sultan's interview on Israel-Palestine conflict.