Marrakech – The Directorate General of National Security (DGSN) opened its new administrative complex in Rabat to judicial delegations from 24 countries on Thursday, guiding senior foreign magistrates through a tour of the facility’s operations.
The guests included presidents of courts of cassation, prosecutors general, and members of high judicial bodies from Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.
Their visit came on the sidelines of an international congress organized by Morocco’s Court of Cassation with the Association of High Courts of Cassation Sharing the Use of French (AHJUCAF), held under the theme “Justice and artificial intelligence: opportunities and risks.”
The DGSN framed the reception as part of a broader effort to open the institution to its national and international environment and to present the work of the Moroccan police. The directorate cast itself as a central component of the criminal justice chain, and the tour was meant to show the services its security apparatus provides to citizens and to judicial institutions.
The delegations began at the National Security Museum, which traces the history of Morocco’s security institution and its institutional evolution over the decades. They then moved through the complex’s operational core.
That core includes command and national camera-monitoring rooms used to secure Morocco’s largest cities, crisis-management rooms, and the center responsible for securing DGSN facilities.
According to the directorate, these installations reflect a high level of readiness and the use of advanced technology in security management. The tour also covered daily workspaces and data-management centers built around modern IT systems, before closing with the integrated on-site services within the complex, among them the sports center and the mosque.
The headquarters was inaugurated in May in Rabat’s Riyad district, coinciding with the DGSN’s 70th anniversary and the seventh edition of the National Security Open Days.
King Mohammed VI had launched construction on April 24, 2019, following his July 30, 2016 Throne Day speech that called for the police to receive the resources needed to carry out its missions. The DGSN has described the site as one that “accompanies the modernization of the Moroccan police,” while remaining tied to its history and public-safety missions.
Built across 20 hectares at a cost of MAD 2 billion ($200 million), the complex was designed by architect Kamal Benamar to bring the directorate’s services into a single, integrated site. Its covered surface reaches 200,000 m², with a central R+8 building, two R+5 wings, six directorate buildings, and an archives block. Parking accommodates 2,700 vehicles.
The site holds a heliport, a data center, and an auditorium seating 1,200. Two command rooms run real-time surveillance, one for mobile cameras and drones and another for fixed cameras – 1,400 in Rabat, 1,200 in Casablanca, 619 in Marrakech, 447 in Agadir, 194 in Tangier, and 157 in Laâyoune. A dedicated center issues up to 24,000 national ID cards per day.
The architecture pairs contemporary design with Moroccan craftsmanship, including zellige and woodwork. Some 2,600 photovoltaic modules cover up to 60% of the building’s annual electricity needs, alongside 29 electric-vehicle charging points.
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