What is intelligence? What is not?

The word intelligence connotes different meanings for everyone according to their own knowledge and understanding ability. If you ask this word to any person you meet in daily life, you will see that everyone is aware of intelligence, but what they understand from intelligence is very different from each other.

Intelligence is understood and defined differently, even among those who do research and even write books on the subject. Definitions generally vary according to the profession of the people, the intelligence branch they are interested in and some other characteristics. Therefore, there is no universally agreed definition of intelligence. Here, first of all, we will try to determine what those who wrote them understand about intelligence by examining different sources, and then to come to a conclusion step by step and to make a general definition of intelligence.

Intelligence; In Arabic, it is the plural of the word "informing", "receiving news and information".[1] According to the Turkish Language Association's Current Turkish Dictionary, intelligence; It is expressed as "newly learned information, news, sensations, information gathering, receiving news."[2]. Looking at the Dictionary of Synonyms and Near Synonyms, for intelligence; There is an equivalent of “sensation / news” [3].

These definitions; It is very similar to the current usage of the word among the people and what ordinary people understand from this word. A person who knows something that no one knows yet; “I got an intelligence.” By that, he means “he has received news”. In one place, people who know most of the things that are going on about certain issues are also called “His intelligence.” The reason why it is called is because it is believed that he hears all kinds of news or that he can easily reach news and information on every subject thanks to his wide acquaintance. Again, a person wondering about a subject; “Let me go gather some intel on this matter.” By this he means collecting information. In other words, intelligence in the colloquial language; It means “receiving news and information”.

In Arabic for intelligence used in Turkish; “Communications, correspondence due to communication.” The word “Muhaberat” is used. In most of the Arab countries, intelligence agencies are also working under the name "Al Muhaberat". The word Intelligence used in French and English for the word intelligence; It means “mind, intelligence, cleverness, head, intelligence”[4]. Intelligence institutions and organizations in these countries are also expressed using the same word.

The word we use for intelligence and the word used by Arabs are mostly used to get news, learn something secretly, communicate, report etc. while connoting meanings, mind, intelligence etc. in French and English. Having a positive meaning is a situation arising from the cultural differences of societies. This word difference creates different effects on people living in different societies, in parallel with their dictionary meanings. In us and in the Arabs, the words intelligence/communications are mostly introverted words that often evoke feelings of anxiety and fear. For this reason, we and the Arabs attribute a narrow and sterile meaning to intelligence. However, the French and English Intelligence words, which have a positive meaning, do not have the same negative effect on people, and they also enable a wider understanding of intelligence.

To summarize, intelligence; It can mean different things according to people living in a society, and it can also mean different things in different countries according to cultural differences between countries and even the differences in management style. As such, it seems even more difficult to define an intelligence that everyone can accept. However, we will still try to reach a conclusion by examining the existing definitions.

When the books published on intelligence in Turkey are examined; It is seen that some of these books have been written by academics who are interested in the subject and have been trained mostly in international relations. These authors made an effort to put intelligence into a general theory, gave very useful information, but since they had never worked in the field of practice, their narratives seem to be both very complex and somewhat empty.

Another group of writers is military-based writers. These authors; Since they were either an intelligence officer or a person using intelligence during their military service life, they gave very practical information. In the books of these authors, the lack of theoretical infrastructure is immediately striking, and it is seen that intelligence is explained with the understanding of military intelligence, which is a type of intelligence. Although very useful information is given, these do not lead us to the definition of intelligence we are looking for.

There is a third group of authors who have no relation to intelligence either academically or practically. However, due to his personal interests, he obtained it by doing research on intelligence issues.

They publish their information. While some of the authors in this group provide very useful information, most of them have very limited and in-depth information.

Another group of writers consists of people who have worked in foreign intelligence services such as MOSSAD and CIA. These are the most popular and interesting books on the market. However, only memories and events are described in these books, the theoretical information about the concept of intelligence is either not given at all, or it is explained in the context of the subject and in a way that only people with intelligence can understand.

As can be seen, in the current publications, each author group talks about a specific aspect of the event, and holistic works on the subject are not presented. Here, we will try to make a holistic and comprehensive definition of intelligence by making use of these publications. In addition to these books, there are many official manuals and supplementary publications on the internet, primarily the US military intelligence manuals, belonging to NATO countries (Our manuals have almost the same content as these). We will try to benefit from these publications as well. On the other hand, throughout my professional life; We will also benefit from the intelligence training I have received at the Intelligence School and various military education institutions, and the information that remains in my mind from my practices during my duty.

According to the definition given in the military manuals of ours and of most NATO countries, Intelligence is: “The collection, evaluation, and evaluation of all available information relating to one or more aspects of foreign nations or regions and which are of imminent or probable importance in the making of situation judgments, in the development and implementation of courses of action, plans and operations; are the results of their interpretation and combination. In short, Intelligence = Information + Analysis.”

As can be seen, this definition was made entirely in relation to military intelligence. However, while this definition is given as intelligence in military manuals, a separate definition is made as "military intelligence". According to this definition, military intelligence; “It is the result obtained from the collection, evaluation and interpretation of news and information (including weather and terrain) regarding the enemy, the potentially hostile party, and the operational area.” When we look at these definitions, it is seen that there is not much difference between them. Combining these two definitions, some important conclusions can be drawn from them.

By definition, intelligence is done to serve a purpose. The purpose of these definitions; to assist in the making and implementation of plans. The second mentioned point; intelligence is not only about the enemy, but also about the weather and terrain. The third point is that intelligence is stated as the results obtained after a series of processes. According to these definitions, intelligence is not information or news. News and information; The product that emerges after going through a process that is divided into four parts, namely collection, evaluation, interpretation and merging, is intelligence.

So intelligence; It is a final product that will help the authority to be presented to it as a result of the analysis of information and news. Another point that draws attention here is the nature of the information to be collected. People usually understand intelligence as the collection of secret information, in other words espionage, in secret ways. However, it is mentioned here to collect all kinds of information that can serve our purpose, regardless of whether it is confidential or open. In other words, intelligence is not compressed into an espionage activity, its scope is expanded.

Ümit Özdağ intelligence; “It is the collection and analysis of information rather than the operative activities defined as covert operation.” he describes. As can be seen, information plus analysis is also mentioned here, but intelligence is defined as a process, not a result. Özdağ states the following in the same book; "Intelligence; It is a universal social science that aims to understand all kinds of political, economic, social and military phenomena and to predict improvements.”

This phrase is perhaps one of the best definitions of intelligence ever made. [5] Because when this expression is examined; Unlike the previous definition, intelligence is stated as a social science. It is also said here that intelligence should understand the current situation and make predictions about the future. So intelligence; It is not dry raw information, it requires understanding events and predicting what will happen in the future.

Sıddık YARMAN gives a slightly different definition for intelligence. "Intelligence; The processed information bundle is the product, which is obtained as a result of the evaluation of the regular information collected about a selected target in a way that reveals the possible behavior of the target.”[6] This definition includes more specialized aspects than other definitions. Although the definition in military manuals mentions targets that are enemy or likely to be hostile, in this definition; towards a chosen target By talking about collecting information, it has been more clearly put forward that intelligence should be done for a target.

In the definition, it was also emphasized that intelligence is a continuous and planned activity by mentioning the regular collection of information about this target. In addition, by talking about revealing the possible behavior of the target, it is tried to be explained that intelligence requires the estimation of the enemy's movement patterns, not a more refined information to be revealed as a result of the evaluation of the information obtained. However, in this definition, intelligence is defined as a result, not a process, as in some previous definitions.

Ertuğrul GÜVEN intelligence; Different from the ones mentioned so far, it is defined as "the result of collecting information, comparing it with existing information, analyzing, evaluating, combining and interpreting this information."[7] He mentions that intelligence should have an information repository, an archive, and the need to compare newly obtained information with this existing information.

Ünal ACAR, who is a security guard himself, has intelligence; In general terms, it is the studies related to the evaluation of the information collected according to the principles of confidentiality, impartiality, accuracy and continuity in order to make the most accurate prediction about the events that may occur in the future.[8] The first thing that draws attention here is that this definition also reflects the perspective of our police, who are struggling with a constant unknown, the types of crimes that change every day and new criminal organizations that appear every day. The police are both producers and users of intelligence. For this reason, the desire to see ahead and predict the future is also reflected in recognition. Another point that draws attention here is that intelligence is defined on the basis of principles and is perceived as a process.

After examining the definitions of intelligence from the perspectives of soldiers, academics, researchers, and police, I consider it appropriate to end our research by examining how MIT defines intelligence. Of course, there are different intelligence definitions made in many domestic and foreign sources. However, when we look at these, it is seen that they are not very different from the definitions we have examined so far, except for some minor differences.

MIT's intelligence is the product obtained as a result of processing news, information and documents compiled from various sources in response to the needs determined by the state.[9] It defines as. The first point that draws attention here is that MIT also emphasized in the definition that it conducts intelligence for the state. Since MIT is an institution that meets intelligence needs at a strategic level and is directly subordinate to the presidency, it is understood that it considers itself to be an institution that directly concerns the state.

So what is meant by the state? MIT provides intelligence to all the main institutions of the state, especially the government, and is also responsible for IKK (Counter Intelligence) at the strategic level. MIT is also the supreme institution responsible for the coordination of intelligence with other intelligence agencies in Turkey. For this reason, MIT states that with this definition, it provides the needs of the state. In the definition of MIT, intelligence is considered as a result and a product, and it also counts documents among those that will be processed other than news and information mentioned in other definitions.

Now, by examining all these definitions, let's try to reach step by step what intelligence is.

1. As can be understood from most of the definitions, intelligence does not mean news or information as it is expressed in the dictionary. These are just inputs to intelligence.

2. Intelligence has a purpose, no matter which institution it is made by. This target can be a state, a criminal organization or a terrorist organization.

3. Intelligence is not only the target but also the target; weather, terrain etc. It also examines other conditions.

4. Intelligence is not a random activity. It has a purpose and some results it wants to achieve.

5. Intelligence, news, information, documents, documents, etc. It takes place in a process where some evaluated results/products are obtained by subjecting the inputs to a certain process.

6. Intelligence is not only concerned with obtaining confidential information, but is concerned with all information obtained from any implicit source and that will serve a purpose.

7. Intelligence does not cover issues such as covert operations, psychological warfare, information warfare, propaganda. At best, it provides the necessary information for the units that will do them.

8. The intelligence system does not operate solely for military operations, police operations and government bodies. It acts according to the needs of all institutions of the state.

9. Intelligence is a continuous activity. Military intelligence, security intelligence in peacetime, even when there is no situation that violates security; even though other intelligence bodies did not come up with any critical situation, that is, all m they operate full-time throughout the year.

9. During these activities, continuous information is collected in an archive or information repository. The results obtained by comparing the new information with this information are used and the necessary ones are added to this pool.

10. Intelligence also deals with the past, but information from the past is used to create a general information infrastructure. Intelligence is primarily concerned with understanding the current situation and making predictions about what might happen in the future.

11. Diversity of resources is important in intelligence.

12. Intelligence is conducted according to pre-determined needs. So it is a planned activity.

13. Intelligence operates in a way that helps planners, decision makers and practitioners working at different levels of government to carry out these activities more accurately and appropriately.

Some other issues can be added to these basic principles. However, we conclude our evaluations here, as we think that it is possible to make a holistic intelligence definition by taking into account the issues we have identified.

After considering the subject in all its aspects, I think it is appropriate to make the following definition of intelligence:

Intelligence; “It is a process in which news and information obtained from all kinds of sources are analyzed and conclusions are drawn in line with the pre-determined targets related to the fields in which they operate in order for the planners at all levels of the state to make the right planning, for the decision makers to make the right decisions and for the implementers to correctly implement the appropriate course of action. It is a social science.”

References:

[1] Ahmet YÜKSEL, Ottoman Intelligence in the Age of Mahmut II, Kitap Publishing House, Istanbul 2013, p. 23.

[2] http://www.tdk.gov.tr/index.php?option=com_gts&arama=gts&guid=TDK.GTS.52dddbf01a99e6.420 57183.

[3]http://www.tdk.gov.tr/index.php?option=com_esanlamlar&arama=esanlam&guid=TDK.ESA.52ddde c69504e 9. 76269754

[4] http://www.seslisozluk.net/?word=%C4%B0ntelligence&lang=tr-en.

[5] Dr. Ümit ÖZDAĞ, Intelligence Theory, Crypto Publishing House, 4th Edition, Ankara, 2010, p. 27-30.

[6] Sait YILMAZ, The Power Ruling the World, Intelligence Science, Crypto Publishing House, Ankara, 2013, p. 99.

[7] Sait YILMAZ, ibid, p.119.

[8] Sait YILMAZ, ibid, p.119.

[9] http://www.mit.gov.tr/isth-olusum.html