WASHINGTON Saudi Arabia in free fall would make the other crises in the Middle East look puny.

The hugely wealthy kingdom is key to U.S. efforts to combat Americas most urgent threats. It has stockpiled thousands of ready-to-launch missiles, tens of thousands of bombs, uncounted reserves of small arms, hundreds of tanks and fighter jets and some of the most aggressive spyware available in the world.

Through Saudi Arabias supply lines to Asia and its sway over the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, it wields vast power over the oil production that fuels global trade.

And its population of nearly 30 million is largely young and often vulnerable to terrorist recruitment, as striking levels of volunteering and fundraising for the self-described Islamic State and al Qaeda have shown.

Despite the risks, Mohammed bin Salman, the 32-year-old Saudi king-to-be, has spent close to three years pushing the kingdom to change in unprecedented ways to forcefully intervene abroad, as it has to brutal effect in neighboring Yemen , to open up its state-dominated economy to entrepreneurs and foreign capital, and above all, to embrace rule by one near-omnipotent leader.

The crown prince is likely to see at least some success. But officials and experts monitoring the kingdom are increasingly worried about his methods. If Mohammed bin Salman pushes too hard, he could shatter his society and unleash a nightmare.

Since Nov. 4, the prince has accelerated his campaign. His new anti-corruption agency has arrested hundreds of prominent Saudis including royal family members like recently released Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, the son of the previous king and former head of the powerful National Guard, and noted billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal as well as dozens of military officers and private businessmen like construction magnate Bakr Binladin .

At least 17 detainees have needed medical attention because of abuse , according to The New York Times, and Saudi authorities say they seek to confiscate much of the wealth these figures accumulated securing hundreds of billions of dollars to fund Mohammed bin Salmans agenda.

The prince is aware of international anxiety about Saudi stability. In interviews with important Westerners like Thomas Friedman of The New York Times, he suggests that he shares that concern. Mohammed bin Salmans argument is that collapse would be likely even inevitable without his plans. He cites goals reformist Saudis and outsiders have long said Riyadh must adopt: ending endemic corruption, encouraging Saudis to be less dependent on the state with his Vision 2030 economic strategy , and discouraging ultra-conservative interpretations of Islam.

Changing Saudi Arabia for the better means helping the region and changing the world. So this is what we are trying to do here. And we hope we get support from everyone, the prince told The Guardian in October.

But hes also fundamentally changing the methods his country has relied on to avert catastrophe.

The [Saudi] system itself is in many ways built around trying to ensure stability, Derek Chollet, who has served in top positions at the White House, Pentagon and State Department since the 1990s, told HuffPost.

Consider the last time Saudi Arabia had a hostile army on its borders. It didnt announce a response for six days.

You had King Fahd, but you had Crown Prince Abdullah, the head of the National Guard; Prince Sultan, the head of the defense ministry; Prince Nayef, head of the interior ministry; and Prince Saud Al-Faisal at the foreign ministry, said F. Gregory Gause, an expert on the Persian Gulf at Texas A&M University.

These were all senior members of the family. They all had a voice in what went on, Gause continued, adding, the king had to, if not get a consensus, at least consult around with various people. So if we look at 1990, which is relatively well-documented from the American side, we know that the Saudis for days didnt acknowledge that the Iraqis had invaded Kuwait because they hadnt come to a decision on how to handle it.

That consensus-based system which King Salman, the crown princes father, once described to American interviewer Karen Elliott House as Saudi Arabias answer to democracy dominated the kingdoms politics for decades.

Saudi Arabians do not choose representatives who can truly influence the policies of their king. Saudi courts have little judicial independence. And the regimes domestic critics have never wielded real power. Sons of the founder of the modern Saudi state, including King Salman, have ruled in succession since 1953, and various brothers, sons and cousins have developed independent power centers by running various aspects of the sprawling government. The chief checks and balances on any rulers of the kingdom were traditionally within the top tier of the thousands-strong royal family.

With last months arrests, Mohammed bin Salman signaled that the old system is dead. The prince had already slashed the power of the kingdoms religious establishment , the one institution in the country that can claim as central a role in Saudi history as the royal family, and jailed more than 30 clerics, intellectuals and activists. Now high-ranking sources in the kingdom say they are afraid of growing surveillance.

The prince has consolidated power in a way unknown to the kingdom since the the age of his grandfather in the 1930s and 40s. Experts say his goal is to show the only way to thrive in Saudi Arabia is to be loyal to his agenda and to him personally. But its unclear what comes next, and why there should be any confidence that it will work.

If you think you can change Saudi society without the religious types enthusiastically behind you, without the rich people supporting you and by marginalizing this huge network of regime support that the ruling family represented, thats a risky path, Gause, the Texas A&M professor, told HuffPost.

The Saudi governments response to those doubts is firm: We know what were doing.

The pace of change has changed due to the young and dynamic leadership in addition to the young and educated population, Fatimah Baeshen, the spokeswoman for the Saudi Embassy in Washington, told HuffPost in a recent email.

Vision 2030 set long-term aims and also creates a platform for everyone to contribute, both of which ensure the countrys sustainability, she added. There is a symbiotic relationship between public sentiment and ongoing public discourse which informs policy development. This helps set the pace and ensures stability.