Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security: A Profile - Group Names and Aliases, Ethnic and Religious Orientation, Organization and Leaders, Command and Control, Headquarters, Membership, Tactics

Professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction, this important publication presents an overview of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security and attempts to provide an inclusive assessment of the organization, including characteristics such as its history and development, organizational structure, and recruitment. The information in this report was collected mainly from Farsi and English journals, online news Web sites, and Iranian blogs. In conducting this analysis, an effort has been made to ensure the reliability of the information by comparing and contrasting all information across multiple sources. However, because of the secretive nature of the organization and its operations, information about the ministry is difficult to locate and evaluate. Because of the extreme degree of control of the media and news by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iranians have to depend on alternative sources such as blogs to receive daily news. For example, in 2005 Iran had the third-largest number of bloggers in the world after the United States and China, an indication of the importance of the communication and dissemination of news through blogs and social media. Needless to say, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security does not publish information about its activities on Iranian Web sites. Consequently, in the absence of official government information, this report occasionally relies on social media, in particular blogs, as a source of information more than might ordinarily be warranted. The reliability of blog-based information may be questionable at times, but it seems prudent to evaluate and present it in the absence of alternatives. In view of the secrecy that surrounds the ministry, many aspects of its organization, leadership, and activities are poorly understood. The role of the ministry outside of Iran and its cooperation with the Quds Force are topics that merit more careful study. In addition, knowledge of the ministry's cyber capabilities would give better insight into Iran's possible intentions in a cyber war.

Chapter 1 - Executive Summary * Chapter 2 - Group Names And Aliases * Chapter 3 - Group Type * Chapter 4 - Objectives * Chapter 5 - Ethnic, Political, And Religious Orientation * 5.1 Ethnic Composition * 5.2 Political Affiliation And Religious And Ideological Orientation * Chapter 6 - Historical Background * Chapter 7 - Organization * Chapter 8 - Principal Leaders. * Chapter 9 - Headquarters * Chapter 10 - Command And Control * Chapter 11 - Membership Size * Chapter 12 - Membership And Recruitment * Chapter 13 - Training And Indoctrination * Chapter 14 - Methods Of Operation And Tactics * 14.1 Operations * 14.2 Control Of Media * Chapter 15 - Intelligence Capabilities * 15.1 Signals And Cyber Intelligence * 15.2 Human Intelligence * 15.3 Counterintelligence * Chapter 16 - Motivation And Performance * Chapter 17 - Principal Areas Of Operation. * Chapter 18 - Finances And Fund-Raising. * Chapter 19 - Foreign Affiliations And Support * Chapter 20 - Use Of Communications Media * Chapter 21 - Terrorist Threat Assessment * Chapter 22 - Information Gaps (In Sources) * Chapter 23 - Key Historical Events And Setbacks * Chapter 24 - Chronology Of Significant Terrorist Attacks * Chapter 25 - Bibliography