ASSASSINS

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Inside Mossad: Israel's Elite Spy Agency

With an annual budget of about $3bn and 7,000 staff, Mossad is the second-largest espionage agency in the Western world after the CIA. That makes the person chosen to be the head of Mossad very powerful.

David 'Dadi' Barnea took over from Yossi Cohen in June 2021. The selection of new Mossad’s chief is a closely held secret known to a select few in the Israeli prime minister’s office, the agency and the Civil Service Advisory Committee whose members approve the PM’s appointment - even the cabinet and parliament aren’t involved.

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Traditionally, the identity of Mossad's head was not made public, but that changed in 1996 with the appointment of Major General Danny Yatom, former deputy commander of the Israel Defence Forces. Mossad now tends to release the new head’s name after their confirmation or at the start of the five-year term.

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While all 13 of Mossad’s spymasters have been men, the agency has modernized in recent decades. It has a relatively welcoming website and maintains a Facebook page to help with recruiting. Mossad's profile has received a huge boost with the huge success of several Israeli thrillers on streaming services including the acclaimed Fauda, The Spy, Tehran, and False Flag.

So how is Mossad’s chief selected and how does the agency operate?

David 'Dadi' Barnea took over from Yossi Cohen in June 2021

Spymasters generally come from one of two backgrounds. Of the 12 directors who served before Barnea, seven were career officers in the secret service and five were ex-Army - not surprisingly a few mixed both careers.

Barnea enlisted in the IDF in 1983 and served as a combat soldier in the elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit. He also studied at the New York Institute of Technology and obtained an MBA from Pace University before working at an Israeli investment bank.

Barnea's predecessor, Yosef ‘Yossi’ Cohen, was drafted into the IDF in 1979, volunteered as a paratrooper, served as a squad leader, then rose through the secret service ranks where he was in charge of case officers. He also worked as the deputy head of Mossad, and as Israel’s national security advisor, before taking over Mossad in January 2016.

FIVE-YEAR TERMS WITH THE SPY AGENCY

The head of Mossad is expected to serve for five years, but that isn’t always the case. Meir Dagan, Mossad’s 10th director, served from 2002–2011 and Israel’s prime minister extended Cohen’s term by six months.

Previous chiefs have been in the post for fewer years. Danny Yatom headed Mossad from 1996 to 1998 but resigned after a bungled attack on a Palestinian militant in Jordan in 1997. Mossad agents allegedly tried to assassinate Khaled Mash'al by injecting poison into his ear. They'd used forged Canadian passports as their cover, triggering a diplomatic crisis.

And as always have a chilled day from the Viking