Adib Shishakli
While continuing discipline-improving efforts, in 1949 President Husni al-Za'im seized power and reformed the security apparatus, transferring the Gendarmerie from the Ministry of Interior to the Ministry of Defence; the director-general of police was Adib Shishakli, who in turn took the power in 1953. The reformed security apparatus cooperated with United States officials against drug trafficking in mid-1950s. As Syrian ruler, Shishakli retrained, reequipped, and expanded Syrian armed forces, police, and security services; the Director General of Police and Public Security was at the time Ibrahim al-Husseini.