ISIS Leader Is Delegating His Powers in Case He Is Killed
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the reclusive leader of ISIS, is said to have initiated a clear series of delegations in case he is killed. &nbsp;ISIS is built off two basic factions: the ex-Baath Party of Saddam Hussein's Iraq, and the Al-Qaeda veterans of the second Gulf War. &nbsp;The two top leaders of ISIS after al-Baghdadi are thought to be "Abu Alaa al-Afri, a former top deputy to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi; and Fadel al-Hayali, known as Abu Muslim al-Turkmani, a former Iraqi Special Forces officer."
WASHINGTON — The Islamic State’s reclusive leader has empowered his inner circle of deputies as well as regional commanders in Syria and Iraq with wide-ranging authority, a plan to ensure that if he or other top figures are killed, the organization will quickly adapt and continue fighting, American and Iraqi intelligence officials say.

The officials say the leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, delegates authority to his cabinet, or shura council, which includes ministers of war, finance, religious affairs and others.

The Islamic State’s leadership under Mr. Baghdadi has drawn mainly from two pools: veterans of Al Qaeda in Iraq who survived the insurgency against American forces with battle-tested militant skills, and former Baathist officers under Saddam Hussein with expertise in organization, intelligence and internal security. It is the merger of these two skill sets that has made the organization such a potent force, the officials say.

But equally important to the group’s flexibility has been the power given to Islamic State military commanders, who receive general operating guidelines but have significant autonomy to run their own operations in Iraq and Syria, according to American and Kurdish officials. This means that fighters have limited information about the inner workings of the Islamic State to give up if captured, and that local commanders can be killed and replaced without disrupting the wider organization. Within this hierarchy, Iraqis still hold the top positions, while Tunisians and Saudis hold many religious posts.