Turkey expanding foreign intelligence, plans to become ‘global player’

Turkey expanding foreign intelligence, plans to become ‘global player’

Turkey expanding foreign intelligence, plans to become ‘global player’

‘Actually, this region is one that does not contain first-class players except for one or two countries. Therefore, our target is to become a global intelligence player.’

· Task: Director of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization

· Age: 43

ANKARA — Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization, known by its Turkish acronym, MIT, has drafted a plan to expand operations throughout the world by 2015. Officials said the program is designed to make MIT the leading agency in Turkey’s intelligence community, long dominated by the military.

“I don’t want to sound pretentious,” MIT director Hakan Fidan said. “But we will be a global player within two or three years.”

In a briefing on Jan. 5, Fidan, who holds the rank of undersecretary, portrayed a well-funded and well-staffed intelligence agency aimed to enhance reconnaissance and other operations. Fidan, regarded as close to Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, has been credited with Turkey’s improved relations with neighboring Iran and until 2011, with Syria.

“We have sufficient human resources, technical infrastructure, operational capacity and experience to do this [global expansion],” Fidan said.

Over the last year, officials said, MIT has taken over some of the functions of military intelligence, particularly in the area of foreign operations. They said Fidan was given a mandate to transform MIT into one of the top 10 intelligence agencies in the world, including Britain, China, France, Israel, Russia and the United States.

“Regionally, we are at a good point in terms of intelligence-gathering and -processing,” said Fidan, a retired military officer.

“Actually, this region is one that does not contain first-class players except for one or two countries. Therefore, our target is to become a global intelligence player.”

In 2012, MIT plans to merge its electronic intelligence directorate with that of military intelligence. But Fidan said the military’s Electronic Systems Command, authority of which was relayed to MIT on Jan. 1, would continue signals intelligence for the armed forces.

Fidan said MIT has been working closely with the Turkish Foreign Ministry. He said intelligence was flowing to Turkish embassies while Fidan was sent twice to Syria in 2011 to relay messages to the regime of President Bashar Assad.

“We are in very close cooperation with the Foreign Ministry,” Fidan said. “That includes traditional intelligence-gathering and direct intervention in regions like Syria, Iran, Iraq, the Turkish world, Caucasus and Balkans.”

Officials said Erdogan has approved a plan in which MIT would head the intelligence community and supervise military intelligence. They said Fidan was heading a panel to determine reforms in the entire community that would include cooperation, joint operations and the separation between domestic and external intelligence units.

“Every intelligence organization wants to have separate specialized units while coordinating a command system,” Fidan said. “That’s what we are in search for as well.” Meanwhile, Turkey’s military has been preparing for a range of platforms to arrive in 2012.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan.

Officials said the Turkish military has been arranging for the delivery of aircraft and other platforms from Europe and the United States. They cited attack helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles and airborne early-warning and control aircraft.

“This will be a busy year for just about every service in the Turkish military,” an official said.

[On Jan. 5, the Defense Industry Executive Committee, responsible for major procurement decisions, met in Ankara to review leading programs, including the U.S.-led Joint Strike Fighter. The government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has been examining the prospect of ordering the first six of up to 100 F-35 fighter-jets from prime contractor Lockheed Martin.]

Some of the platforms were scheduled to be coproduced in Turkey. They included the T-129 attack helicopter, scheduled to begin delivery to the Turkish Army in late 2012.

In all, the Ground Forces Command would receive nine out of 59 helicopters this year as part of a project with Italy’s AgustaWestland and the state-owned Turkish Aerospace Industries. TAI was assigned the assembly of weapons on the T-129, a variant of AgustaWestland’s A-129.

The United States has been preparing to export three AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters, produced by Bell Textron. Officials said the AH-1W would be deployed in counter-insurgency missions along the borders with Iraq.

The Turkish Air Force has been arranging for the delivery of the U.S.-origin AEW aircraft. Officials said the first of four such B-737 aircraft would be exported by Boeing as part of a long-delayed Peace Eagle project valued at more than $1.6 billion.

Officials said the military also wanted to enhance its UAV fleet. They said Ankara was overseeing operations of the U.S.-origin RQ-1 Predator UAVs, deployed in the southern Turkish air base at Incirlik. Ankara has been waiting for more than two years to procure the Predator.

The biggest weapons project could be decided by Turkey in 2012. Officials cited a $4 billion ballistic missile defense program, which pitted the U.S.-origin PAC-3, deemed the frontrunner, against Russia’s S-400, China’s HQ-9 and Europe’s Aster-30.

via Turkey expanding foreign intelligence, plans to become ‘global player’ – Grendel Report.