The General Intelligence Directorate was formally established by then Prime Minister, and future President, Gamal Abdel Nasser, in 1954, and placed under the command of Zakaria Mohieddin.

Under Nasr's supervision, the GID relocated to its own building and established separate divisions for Radio, Computer, Forgery and Black Operations.

[8] As a result of this personnel change, the president assigned the GIS more and more tasks in connection with the consolidation of his rule, probably also in order to become more independent from the Egyptian armed forces.

In addition, the service was given extensive powers by parliamentary resolution to set up its own commercial companies, a privilege that had previously been reserved for the military in this form.

[9] In October 2023, the Egyptian intelligence service claimed that it had warned Israel 10 days before the incursion of Hamas fighters onto Israeli territory.

Egypt’s Intelligence Minister General Abbas Kamel personally warned the Netanjahu government that “something unusual, a terrible operation” is about to happen.

The outlet claimed that Egypt's Intelligence Minister General Abbas Kamel was in direct communication with Israel before the 2023 Israel–Hamas war.

It also serves to disseminate government positions outside of Egypt and to counteract international criticism, for example of the country's human rights situation.

According to Mohamed Ali, the building contractor whose online videos criticising president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi sparked off the September 2019 Egyptian protests, Kamel's "main qualification ... was his close relationship with Sisi".