Following Syria's secession, Nasser grew concerned with <answer>Amer</answer>'s inability to train and modernize the army, and with the state within a state <answer>Amer</answer> had created in the military command and intelligence apparatus. In late 1961, Nasser established the Presidential Council and decreed it the authority to approve all senior military appointments, instead of leaving this responsibility solely to <answer>Amer</answer>. Moreover, he instructed that the primary criterion for promotion should be merit and not personal loyalties. Nasser retracted the initiative after <answer>Amer</answer>'s allies in the officers corps threatened to mobilize against him.
What leader was sidelined by the Presidential Council?
Amer