 The Civil Defense Directorate, which coordinates disaster, fire, and civil defense responses nationwide reports to the Ministry of the Interior.The Ministry of the Interior is headed by the "Minister of State for the Interior, Public Safety and Decentralization", a political appointment who sits in the Council of Ministers of Niger, reporting directly to the President of Niger.Interior and border control, including some policing duties, are carried out through the General Directorate of Territorial Administration ("Direction Générale de l’Administration Territoriale"), which consists of the eight Regional Governorates (now administrative posts, previously the appointed governors of the eight regions) (see Regions of Niger), the Directorate of General Affairs and Transborder Administrative Cooperation (" Direction des Affaires Générales et de la Coopération Administrative Transfront"), and the Directorate of Decentralisation ("Direction de la décentralisation et du contentieux territorial").