From 1977 through 2001 Turki was head of Saudi Arabia's Department of General Intelligence. He abruptly resigned late in August, 2001, and was replaced by his uncle, Prince Nawaf Bin Abdul Aziz.
On some accounts, Prince Turki is affiliated with the fundamentalist and anti-American wing of the royal family, a wing with sympathies to bin Laden. Turki was dismissed as chief of Saudi intelligence one month before the World Trade Center attacks.