As emergency law becomes the new order in Turkey, several institutions are being reformed, shut down or promptly restructured. With each new executive decree that passes as law, Ankara bureaucrats have been wondering whether the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) would be affected as well.

Al-Monitor was one of the first to be informed Nov. 4 that the long-awaited changes had been finalized within the MIT; the information received came directly from senior bureaucrats of the agency. The MIT used to have four main departments, each led by a deputy undersecretary. In the new setup it will have six. To put this in perspective, when Hakan Fidan became the director of the MIT in May 2010, there was only one position of deputy undersecretary. The Nov. 4 decision is more than just about the addition of new offices; responsibilities are rearranged in addition to the scope of each office.

There are three main changes that could give us clues about what we can expect from the role of the MIT in Turkish bureaucracy. First, two new departments have been created. One is the position of a new deputy undersecretary for coordination among state institutions. This unit is quite important as communication between different institutions of the state has become a serious hurdle in the aftermath of the coup attempt. As the state system is reorganized, keeping communication channels open has become a priority for the MIT as well. This unit is important in order to understand that the MIT is no longer an isolated entity, operating in a vacuum, but indeed does carry out day-to-day interactions with the Interior Ministry and Foreign Ministry as well as other ministries and agencies. Its reports and activities are now coordinated with several different offices on a daily basis, breaking the mysterious, unreachable aura of the intelligence agency within the state system.

The next long-awaited position created is that of deputy undersecretary for special operations. The establishment of this unit tells us that Turkish adventurism is not to be quelled any time soon. To the contrary, it will expand because now we see the government is willing to spare more funding and human resources to special operations. The institutionalization also tells us that Turkish presence in Syria and involvement in Iraq will be coordinated from this center and that this unit is set to grow in the coming months. The MIT is likely to remain the key Turkish player in Syria and Iraq above all other Turkish institutions.