Female agents to go into the field - Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review
ASLI AYDINTAŞBAŞ
The legendary mysterious figure of Turkish espionage A.G., whose full name has been kept secret for years and whose photo has never been leaked to the press, was identified as Afet Güneş, deputy undersecretary of the National Intelligence Agency, or MİT, when she attended the terror summit at the Prime Ministry last week, according to the Anatolia news agency.
I first heard about her years ago from a northern Iraqi leader in exile. There is a woman in MİT, an expert on the Middle East. She is very intelligent. She attends our meetings, said the politician who now holds an important position in Iraq.
Although her name was kept secret during my time in Ankara, she was often referred to as the black box of the state. New and old, all the undersecretaries would talk about this expert on the Middle East and Kurdish issues. Güneş was on the team that questioned the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Peoples Party, or PKK, Abdullah Öcalan. She contributed to the MİTs rethink in the 2000s concerning the rigid perspective of the state on Kurdish issue. She was appointed as the deputy undersecretary responsible for intelligence when Emre Taner was heading MİT. She has become the most senior woman not only in the organization, but also in the civil structure. (Fortunately, Ayşe Sezgin was appointed as deputy undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry early this year, taking a little step further in breaking the male dominance in the 87 years old secular Turkish Republic.)
We might assume that in addition to the undersecretary, Güneş, who is in a most critical position in the intelligence agency, might have been involved in the indirect talks that are believed to have been conducted about the Kurdish initiative with Öcalan at İmralı Island where he is detained.
Hakan Fidan, who has replaced Emre Taner, continued to work with the deputy undersecretaries responsible for intelligence and operations, in order to avoid shaking the inner balances of the institution.
You might ask how a woman reach the echelons of the security sector so dominated by men. The answer I got when I ask the same question surprised me. From what I understand, MİT is one of the state institutions with highest number or women. I am not talking about secretaries, informers, assistants or analysts. They are present as well, but there is a significant number of women how are executives and heading departments.
Having observed for years that unqualified men in the state, civil structure and politics have not let women approach executive positions, I was pleased to hear about several in MİT.
But the reason why women are getting higher positions in MİT is not because there is a feminist or egalitarian work culture in the institution. It is because women in most cases worked until now either in the headquarters in Ankaras Yenimahalle or regional directorate at the desks as analysts.
All who read spy novels would know that there are two types of people in the intelligence services: those who gather information, hide their real identities, find informers, conduct operations and spy in the field; and those analysts who make deductions from the information that comes to the headquarters or take the operational decisions.
From what I understand, MİT had the tendency until now to use women as analysts rather than as field spies due to family reasons, the difficulty of life conditions and terrorism.
Yet this situation is changing rapidly.
One of the implementations that is coming into force during the term of the new undersecretary is the fact that from now on young female spies will be going into the field.
Until now, difficult field missions and operational issues were the jobs of men. But MİT has started to send young women spies to all corners of Turkey and the rest of the world.
No, I am not talking about the Turkish version of Russian spy Anna Chapman or Mata Hari. They are insignificant figures in the intelligence world. Turkish female James Bonds are coming.
This is only one of the revisions within the institution. Although MİT is one of the strongest intelligence agencies in the Middle East, it does not have an international network comparable to that of MOSSAD, CIA or MI6. In this sense, Hakan Fidan has intensified the reorganization process started by Emre Taner, adding his own personal international experience. In fact, it seems his disadvantage of being appointed from outside the agency has turned into an advantage. As far as Ive heard, a structure that has competitive characteristics, constructed on the cells of field spies spread around the world, though especially in Turkeys own region as well as the Ottoman geography, is being planned.
Change is a must because institutions like MİT are structured according to a security doctrine that sees its own citizens as potential criminals. There are walls between them and society. They are strong inside but not efficient in the outside world.
Turkeys new rising profile as well as its increasing confidence in the global equation requires a restructuring of not only the Foreign Ministry or military, but also the intelligence agency.
ASLI AYDINTAŞBAŞ
The legendary mysterious figure of Turkish espionage A.G., whose full name has been kept secret for years and whose photo has never been leaked to the press, was identified as Afet Güneş, deputy undersecretary of the National Intelligence Agency, or MİT, when she attended the terror summit at the Prime Ministry last week, according to the Anatolia news agency.
I first heard about her years ago from a northern Iraqi leader in exile. There is a woman in MİT, an expert on the Middle East. She is very intelligent. She attends our meetings, said the politician who now holds an important position in Iraq.
Although her name was kept secret during my time in Ankara, she was often referred to as the black box of the state. New and old, all the undersecretaries would talk about this expert on the Middle East and Kurdish issues. Güneş was on the team that questioned the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Peoples Party, or PKK, Abdullah Öcalan. She contributed to the MİTs rethink in the 2000s concerning the rigid perspective of the state on Kurdish issue. She was appointed as the deputy undersecretary responsible for intelligence when Emre Taner was heading MİT. She has become the most senior woman not only in the organization, but also in the civil structure. (Fortunately, Ayşe Sezgin was appointed as deputy undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry early this year, taking a little step further in breaking the male dominance in the 87 years old secular Turkish Republic.)
We might assume that in addition to the undersecretary, Güneş, who is in a most critical position in the intelligence agency, might have been involved in the indirect talks that are believed to have been conducted about the Kurdish initiative with Öcalan at İmralı Island where he is detained.
Hakan Fidan, who has replaced Emre Taner, continued to work with the deputy undersecretaries responsible for intelligence and operations, in order to avoid shaking the inner balances of the institution.
You might ask how a woman reach the echelons of the security sector so dominated by men. The answer I got when I ask the same question surprised me. From what I understand, MİT is one of the state institutions with highest number or women. I am not talking about secretaries, informers, assistants or analysts. They are present as well, but there is a significant number of women how are executives and heading departments.
Having observed for years that unqualified men in the state, civil structure and politics have not let women approach executive positions, I was pleased to hear about several in MİT.
But the reason why women are getting higher positions in MİT is not because there is a feminist or egalitarian work culture in the institution. It is because women in most cases worked until now either in the headquarters in Ankaras Yenimahalle or regional directorate at the desks as analysts.
All who read spy novels would know that there are two types of people in the intelligence services: those who gather information, hide their real identities, find informers, conduct operations and spy in the field; and those analysts who make deductions from the information that comes to the headquarters or take the operational decisions.
From what I understand, MİT had the tendency until now to use women as analysts rather than as field spies due to family reasons, the difficulty of life conditions and terrorism.
Yet this situation is changing rapidly.
One of the implementations that is coming into force during the term of the new undersecretary is the fact that from now on young female spies will be going into the field.
Until now, difficult field missions and operational issues were the jobs of men. But MİT has started to send young women spies to all corners of Turkey and the rest of the world.
No, I am not talking about the Turkish version of Russian spy Anna Chapman or Mata Hari. They are insignificant figures in the intelligence world. Turkish female James Bonds are coming.
This is only one of the revisions within the institution. Although MİT is one of the strongest intelligence agencies in the Middle East, it does not have an international network comparable to that of MOSSAD, CIA or MI6. In this sense, Hakan Fidan has intensified the reorganization process started by Emre Taner, adding his own personal international experience. In fact, it seems his disadvantage of being appointed from outside the agency has turned into an advantage. As far as Ive heard, a structure that has competitive characteristics, constructed on the cells of field spies spread around the world, though especially in Turkeys own region as well as the Ottoman geography, is being planned.
Change is a must because institutions like MİT are structured according to a security doctrine that sees its own citizens as potential criminals. There are walls between them and society. They are strong inside but not efficient in the outside world.
Turkeys new rising profile as well as its increasing confidence in the global equation requires a restructuring of not only the Foreign Ministry or military, but also the intelligence agency.
