CAIRO – Three months ago, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt had threeclose advisers: his army chief, his spy boss and his chief of staff. Justone still has a job.On Thursday, he fired the spy chief, Khaled Fawzy, and replaced him withhis chief of staff. In October, he fired the chief of defense.
In a curt statement, Mr. Sisi’s office did not offer a reason for thedismissal of Mr. Fawzy, who had led the General Intelligence Service sinceDecember 2014 and was credited with spearheading the agency’s revival afterits failure to anticipate the Arab Spring in 2011.
But there were signs the decision was made quickly, mostly notably in thechoice of Mr. Sisi’s longtime aide and chief of staff, Abbas Kemal, to fillthe position temporarily until another successor is found.
The abrupt change comes at a delicate moment for Egypt’s leader, who isexpected to soon announce his run for re-election in a vote that starts inMarch, and days before a visit to Cairo by Vice President Mike Pence. Thevisit, originally scheduled for December, is set for Saturday.
The election is not expected to pose much of a problem for Mr. Sisi.Several potential candidates have complained of being pressured to quit,hounded through the courts, or threatened with corruption prosecutions.
The atmosphere is not conducive to “honest competition,” Anwar Sadat, anephew of the former president, who had considered running, said in astatement on Monday.
But Mr. Sisi faces major challenges in foreign policy, an area where theintelligence service under Mr. Fawzy had forcefully re-exerted itsinfluence, at times nudging aside the Foreign Ministry, analysts say. Itmidwifed a unity deal between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority inOctober, played a role in relations with the United States and asserteditself as a player in Egypt’s row with Ethiopia over a huge dam being builton the Nile.
The firing also comes amid a criminal investigation over a recent New YorkTimes article based on leaked audio recordings of an Egyptian intelligenceofficer. The article described covert efforts to swing Egyptian publicopinion in favor of the American recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’scapital, a position contrary to Egypt’s public position.
Egyptian officials disputed the report, which created an uproar inParliament, with some legislators saying it was part of an internationalconspiracy to embarrass Egypt. At least one person on the leaked tapes hasbeen interviewed by prosecutors.
A furor has also erupted over the $4.8 billion Ethiopian dam, which is dueto be completed next year. Egyptian experts fear it will greatly curtailtheir share of the river water as the dammed area is filled, which expertssay could take from three to 12 years.
Mr. Sisi emerged grim-faced from a meeting in Cairo on Thursday with theprime minister of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn, at which they failed toresolve a dispute over the dam’s impact. At a joint news conference, Mr.Sisi spoke of “extreme concern” at the lack of progress.
A dispute over Egypt’s share of the Nile waters or controversy over hisposition on Jerusalem are headaches Mr. Sisi could do without. And whateverthe reason for Mr. Fawzy’s defenestration, it underscores how Egypt’sleader is willing to drop his closest allies if he deems it in his bestinterest.
Mr. Sisi’s firing of his defense chief, Gen. Mahmoud Hegazy, in October wasgreeted with surprise, not least because the two men are linked throughmarriage. One of Mr. Sisi’s sons is married to Mr. Hegazy’s daughter.
That dismissal, like Mr. Fawzy’s on Thursday, was sudden, unexpected andunexplained. Both also followed episodes embarrassing to Mr. Sisi’sgovernment — in the case of General Hegazy, a militant ambush of securityforces that killed at least 16 people.
Thanks in part to Mr. Fawzy’s efforts to claw back influence, the GeneralIntelligence Service had become an important channel in relations betweenthe United States and Egypt in recent years. The spy agency has hired WeberShandwick, a public relations agency based in New York, to represent itsinterests.
But some American officials had found it hard to work with Mr. Fawzy, whobacked harsh measures against foreign aid agencies in Egypt and saw Egypt’swoes as a product of foreign meddling, said Andrew Miller of the Project onMiddle East Democracy.
“He was erratic, conspiratorial in nature and harbored a lot ofanti-American suspicions,” said Mr. Miller, who until last year worked onEgypt at the State Department. “He believes that the 2011 uprising was theresult of an external conspiracy rather than internal upheaval.”
Mr. Kamel, the new spy chief, is considered a more moderate figure. Aformer army officer, he served as director of Mr. Sisi’s office when he washead of Military Intelligence, between 2010 and 2012. He stayed with Mr.Sisi after the military swept him to power in 2013, but was embarrassed bya series of audio leaks, apparently recorded in his office, in which Mr.Sisi and his generals could be heard mocking other Arab countries anddiscussing plans to manipulate public opinion.
Mr. Sisi’s son Mahmoud, who works at the General Intelligence Service, islikely to retain an influential role. On at least one occasion, heaccompanied Mr. Fawzy on a visit to Washington to meet with Obamaadministration officials, Mr. Miller said.