The IIS was primarily concerned with international intelligence collection and analysis but also performed many activities inside Iraq in conjunction with the Directorate of General Security as a secret police organization.

These include the assassinations of former Iraqi prime minister Abdul Razzaq an-Naif in London (July 1978), Salih Mahdi Ammash in Helsinki (January 1985), Sheikh Talib al-Suhail al-Tamimi in Beirut (April 1994), Ayatollah Mehdi al-Hakim in Sudan (January 1988) and Ayad Habashi in Rome (October 1986),[citation needed] as well as the attempted assassinations of President George H. W. Bush, the Emir of Kuwait[1] and the former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

In 1983, under the leadership of Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, the GID organized the massacres of the villagers of Dujail and Jezan Al Chol, the disappearance of the Barzanis from the Qushtapa camp, and the assassination of 18 members of Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim's family.

On 13 April 1993, the IIS planned and executed an assassination attempt against former US President George H. W. Bush and the Emir of Kuwait through the use of a large car bomb driven by two Iraqis.

In June 1995, Saddam Hussein dismissed his stepbrother Sabawi Ibrahim al-Tikriti from his role as head of the IIS, due to his failure to increase domestic security within Iraq.