Police torture and the Interior Ministry working for the regime not the people were two of the driving factors behind the January 25 Revolution in Egypt. Now the Interior Ministry is trying to think and act differently, to gain back acceptance and trust from the public.

After moving all the officers who used to work with the notorious and now dissolved State Security Intelligence (SSI) to theMinistry of  Interior , a few not accused of any misdeeds are now being assigned to National Security, the new entity replacing SSI. In total, 28 of 33 generals, 70 of 99 lieutenant generals, and 56 of 105 colonels are being replaced in the new entity.

The news came during the Interior Ministry's second forum, “National Security and the Future,” organised to open dialogue between the police and civil society at the National Security headquarters.

“National Security is taking a new path. Like other entities in the country, before the revolution [it] was working for the good of the president, but after the revolution [it] is working for the good of the Egyptian people,” said Mansour El-Essawi, minister of interior.

El-Essawi recommended that National Security be subject to judicial monitoring to ensure it is working within acceptable and legal standards.

Debate on whether the Interior Ministry has changed with the revolution or not was also opened. Many politicians and activists say that insofar as the same figures are working in the ministry, then nothing has changed.

Others are more positive. “I don’t agree that the National Security has not changed, especially that now its doors are open to the media and their plans are also open to the public,” said Sameh Saif El-Yazal, security expert.