National Intelligence Organization (Turkey)

The National Intelligence Organization (Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı, MİT) is the governmental intelligence organization of Turkey. It was established in 1965 to replace the National Security Service.

According to the former director of Foreign Operations, Yavuz Ataç, the military presence in the organization is negligible. This is a recent development, as the agency has a military heritage. In 1990, the fraction of military personnel was 35%. Today it has dropped to 4.5% in the lower echelons.

A former deputy undersecretary Cevat Öneş said that the MİT suffered with each coup, as the military junta that took over the organization had its own set of priorities.

In order to ensure reliability, the agency has historically recruited from relatives of existing employees. The former undersecretary, Emre Taner, says that this is no longer the case. He is credited with reducing the turf war between the MİT and the police intelligence, as well as infighting inside the MİT itself. Taner announced a restructuring of the MIT at the start of 2009.

The MİT co-operates with American intelligence agencies.

Directorates
DIRECTORATE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE This directorate is in charge of psychological intelligence within and outside the country.

DIRECTORATE OF ELECTRONIC AND TECHNICAL INTELLIGENCE The main duties of this directorate are ELINT (Electronic intelligence) and SIGINT (Signals intelligence) activities. Within the framework of the duties and responsibilities as defined under the law, the MIT is successfully conducting its primary mission of counteracting all electronic and technical attacks against Turkey.

DIRECTORATE OF INTELLIGENCE The directorate is responsible for determining the information needed on the internal and external elements threatening the national and territorial integrity, the existence, the freedom, the security, the Constitutional order and the institutions of the Republic of Turkey; for passing this need to the operational units; and for disseminating the intelligence produced after assessing the gathered information to the relevant institutions at the right time.

THE DIRECTORATE OF OPERATIONS. After the intelligence requirements are determined by the Directorate of Intelligence, the Directorate of Operations will take over. This unit collects information from covert sources in Turkey and abroad for the MIT. The directorate also collects intelligence about organized crimes such as drugs trafficking, money laundering and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, either for terrorist or ideological purposes. In accordance with Law 2937, the MIT's interests include domestic and external organizations, financial resources, acts and movements of subversive or separatist elements working against the Constitutional order of the Republic of Turkey. Another duty of the directorate is to prevent the activities of foreign intelligence organizations in Turkey, such as collecting information or manipulating some individuals or groups.