Auditability of intelligence organizations: National Intelligence Organization (MIT) review

In democratic countries, transparency and accountability are fundamental principles in public administration. However, the transparency and accountability of intelligence organizations that operate under the principle of confidentiality within the administrative organization are open to discussion. Because the activities carried out in accordance with the principle of confidentiality are open to audit in the context of transparency and accountability, there is a risk of endangering the confidentiality of the activities in question. Contrary to this argument, it is unclear to what extent the activities carried out by intelligence organizations that are exempt from inspection, under the principle of confidentiality, will adhere to democratic values. As a matter of fact, it is highly likely that personal interests will come to the fore rather than public interest during the activities of intelligence organizations, which have exceptional powers, to be carried out in accordance with the principle of confidentiality. For this reason, it is necessary to establish the auditability of intelligence organizations operating in accordance with the principle of confidentiality in the context of democratic values. Otherwise, the democratic nature of countries with public institutions exempt from the principles of transparency and accountability is open to question. One of the basic principles in public administration in democratic countries is the rule of law. The principle of the rule of law is a state system that generally refers to an administrative system and management based on law. Therefore, it is essential in democratic countries to have a state system that derives its source from law and a management system that is built on legal legislation. In this context, it is a requirement of democratic governments that intelligence organizations, which are members of the administrative organization, should be established with the support of the legal system and their duties and powers should be clearly determined by legal legislation. Thus, the auditability of intelligence organizations and their activities is established by the principle of the rule of law. In this regard, in this study, the control mechanisms in countries with developed democracy were tried to be discussed based on official sources, and then the development of the control mechanisms in Turkey was examined within the framework of the legal legislation. Thus, the importance of auditability of intelligence organizations and their activities was tried to be emphasized. The purpose of the study is to examine the auditability of intelligence organizations and their activities in the context of legal regulations.