Turkey plans shiny new HQ for shadowy intelligence operations
Senior Turkish intelligence officers say the $140 million budgeted for their agency's new headquarters reveals there is more going on than meets the eye.
Turkey is transforming its National Intelligence Agency (MIT), expanding not only its headquarters, but its operations and reach.
The MIT traditionally has been seen as a domestically oriented, meek secret service, mainly spying on its own citizens. Now, however, it is engaged in border security and surveillance, coordinating paramilitary troops abroad and developing its own internal structure to include foreign and domestic intelligence operations. For example, new laws allow the MIT to monitor the activities of the financial crimes investigation board.
