MIT

• CANADA/CHINA - CSIS at heart of tensions between Ottawa and Beijing

• RUSSIA - Telegram channel close to military intelligence is hiring

• UKRAINE/EUROPE - NATO boosts cooperation with security teams

• TAIWAN - CCP sees ex-police officer Hou Yu-ih as best shot at presidency
  

• IRAQ - Lahur Talabani throws spanner in election plans
  

Hossam Louka active across all fronts, from Syrian countryside to Riyadh and Moscow 

Now Bashar al-Assad's top spymaster, Hossam Louka has begun to quietly take the lead on Syria's normalisation processes, both on the international scene and at a local level.

Japan's system of military surveillance for Chinese students draws interest in the West 

The pioneering strategy Japan has put in place to fight Chinese interference in the academic sphere is earning attention from an increasing number of foreign powers, including France, the United States and Australia. Intelligence Online investigates the secret system of military surveillance of Chinese students.

Baghdad called upon to mediate between the MIT and the PUK 

Hugely concerned about the origin of the intelligence that allowed the MIT to attack the Sulaymanyah airport on 7 April, the PUK has called on Baghdad to lead the investigation. It is also hoping to calm down the increasingly tense relations between the Talabani clan and Ankara.

Turkish cyber opens Swiss and Dutch offices to win over European market 

Given the reluctance of European countries to hire Turkish companies close to the authorities in Ankara, Turkish cyber companies have been relocating their head offices to Europe.

FSB comes back in from the cold 

Benefitting from the rising number of incidents on Russia's periphery and the careful staging of its response to these, the national security service has returned to the forefront of Russian politics after being given the cold shoulder over its strategic errors on Ukraine.

• LONDON - Will Jenkins swaps Nardello for GPW 

• BETHESDA - RosettiStarr takes on Marsh & McLennan's security head

• NEW YORK - Eli Cherkasky speeds up the ladder at Exiger 

• LONDON - Russia specialist Resheniya closes shop

• LONDON - Hakluyt takes on more former Inter-Mediate talent
  

• TURKEY - Iraq and Syria operations MIT's biggest expense

• FRANCE/UNITED STATES - US and UK left France out of loop over China pilot training

• RUSSIA/UKRAINE - Questions of Ukraine intel fail to shake Beseda from FSB
  

• FRANCE - Finance ministry's intelligence reform ramps up a notch

• UNITED KINGDOM/RUSSIA - Russian author takes swipe at MI6

• ISRAEL/IRAN - Mossad satisfied by latest operation against Iran

• FRANCE - National Assembly studies defence group financing

• FRANCE - Intelligence veteran Rondot gets a biography

• RUSSIA - Mobilisation and conscription continue to split the elites

• JAPAN/VATICAN - Nippon Foundation president meets Pope Francis

• RUSSIA - Nikolai Patrushev's inner circle remodelled

Turkey's MIT maps out intelligence academy plans 

Following the lead of a number of Western intelligence communities, Turkey is planning to open an intelligence academy, under the aegis of the MIT, headed by spymaster Hakan Fidan.

USSOCOM keeps troops on ground despite Syria-Turkey talks 

After letting its focus on Syria slip, the United States is now having to sit by and watch as the Assad regime continues to engage with Turkey. If the two neighbours do restore ties, this could pull the US back into the regional troubles and call into question the presence of US troops in northeast Syria.

• MOLDOVA - Presidential cabinet musical chairs.

• RUSSIA - Roskomnadzor strengthens border controls.

• CHINA/RUSSIA - Beijing gets involved in peace efforts in Europe.

• TURKEY/IRAQ - Ankara searches for equipment to fight PKK in northern Iraq.

Kalman Chaim Sporn helps Turkish embassy in Washington promote rapprochement with Israel 

Despite tensions on the ground, the Israeli-Turkish rapprochement is moving forward with the help of the Turkish ambassador in Washington, Hasan Murat Mercan, flanked by consultant Kalman Chaim Sporn.

SiberAsist, Turkish intelligence's cyber tool shopper 

Behind its shiny sales facade, the Turkish company SiberAsist, one of Cem Günal and Serap Günal's many businesses, has been quietly helping the Turkish intelligence services source cyber-intelligence and forensics technologies.

Deposed Ukrainian aircraft engine manufacturer Motor Sich chairman at heart of secret Kyiv-Moscow negotiations 

Intelligence Online has learned that Moscow is trying to recuperate the chairman of the Ukrainian aircraft engine manufacturer after his arrest by the latter's internal intelligence department for alleged collusion with the Russian state. This comes just two years after a Chinese company close to the Chinese Communist Party tried to buy the company.