The Israeli Intelligence Community is made up of
Aman
Aman may refer to:Poli
People First names
* Aman Hambleton (born 1992), Canadian chess grandmaster
* Aman Hayer (born 1979), Bhangra musician
* Aman Verma (actor) (born 1971), Indian actor
Surnames
* Mohammed Aman (born 1994), Ethiopian mi ...
(military intelligence),
Mossad (overseas intelligence) and
Shabak (internal security).
Current agencies
*
Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman): the supreme
military-intelligence branch of the
Israeli Defense Forces
Israeli may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel
* Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel
* Modern Hebrew, a language
* ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008
* Guni Israeli ...
(IDF)
:*
Intelligence Corps: the main intelligence-collection and -analysis body of the
IDF General Staff; also includes the Israeli
signals-intelligence agency known as
Unit 8200
Unit 8200 ( he, יחידה 8200, ''Yehida shmone -Matayim''- "Unit eight - two hundred") is an Israeli Intelligence Corps unit of the Israel Defense Forces responsible for collecting signal intelligence (SIGINT) and code decryption. Military pu ...
:*
Information Security Department: the main information-security and counterintelligence unit of Aman
:*
Research Department: the main all-source intelligence-assessment unit of Aman
:*
Air Intelligence Directorate: the intelligence unit of the
Israeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defens ...
:*
Naval Intelligence Division: the intelligence unit of the
Israeli Navy
The Israeli Navy ( he, חיל הים הישראלי, ''Ḥeil HaYam HaYisraeli'' (English: The Israeli Sea Corps); ar, البحرية الإسرائيلية) is the naval warfare service arm of the Israel Defense Forces, operating primarily in ...
:*
Combat Intelligence Collection Corps
The Israeli Combat Intelligence Collection Corps (previously known as ''Field Intelligence Corps'') is the newest of the IDF GOC Army Headquarters' five corps, created in April 2000 and tasked with collecting combat intelligence. It is responsible ...
: the intelligence unit of
Israeli Ground Forces
The Israeli Ground Forces ( he, זרוע היבשה) are the Army, ground forces of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The commander is the GOC Army Headquarters, General Officer Commanding with the rank of Major General, the ''Mazi'', subordinate ...
:*
Sayeret Matkal
General Staff Reconnaissance Unit (formerly Unit 269 or Unit 262), more commonly known as Sayeret Matkal ( he, סיירת מטכ״ל) is the special reconnaissance unit (''sayeret'') of Israel's General Staff (''matkal''). It is the prime special ...
(סיירת מטכ"ל): the IDF's premier
special-forces unit, directly subordinate to Aman
:*The intelligence units of the four
Regional Commands (
Central
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
,
Northern,
Southern,
Home Front
Home front is an English language term with analogues in other languages. It is commonly used to describe the full participation of the British public in World War I who suffered Zeppelin raids and endured food rations as part of what came t ...
).
*
Mossad: the
agency responsible primarily for foreign-intelligence work
*
Shabak ("Shin bet"): the organization charged with maintaining
internal security
Internal security is the act of keeping peace within the borders of a sovereign state or other self-governing territories, generally by upholding the national law and defending against internal security threats. Responsibility for internal secu ...
, including in the
Israeli-occupied territories
Israeli-occupied territories are the lands that were captured and occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. While the term is currently applied to the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights, it has also been used to refer to a ...
*The intelligence branch of the
Israeli Police
*The
Centre for Political Research
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
* Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...
: the intelligence branch of the Israeli
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Former agencies
*
Nativ: the organization responsible for bringing Jews from
Soviet Bloc countries, a later manifestation of the
Mossad Le'aliyah Bet
The Mossad LeAliyah Bet ( he, המוסד לעלייה ב', lit. ''Institution for Immigration B'') was a branch of the paramilitary organization Haganah in British Mandatory Palestine, and later the State of Israel, that operated to facilitate ...
. Following the
dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, it moved out of the intelligence community and became a department within the
Prime Minister's office.
*
Lekem Lekem, (also pronounced "Lakam") an acronym for ''ha-Lishka le-Kishrei Mada'' ( he, הלשכה לקשרי מדע, Bureau of Scientific Relations), was an Israeli intelligence agency headed by Benjamin Blumberg (1957–1981), and Rafi Eitan (1981–1 ...
: the agency responsible for obtaining and securing secret
technology
Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and Reproducibility, reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in me ...
. It was dissolved in 1986, and its director,
Rafi Eitan
Rafael Eitan ( he, רפי איתן; 23 November 1926 – 23 March 2019) was an Israeli politician and intelligence officer. He also led Gil and served as Minister of Senior Citizens. He was in charge of the Mossad operation that led to the ar ...
, resigned over the exposure of
Jonathan Pollard
Jonathan Jay Pollard (born August 7, 1954) is a former intelligence analyst for the United States government. In 1987, as part of a plea agreement, Pollard pleaded guilty to spying for and providing top-secret classified information to Israel. H ...
, whom a United States court convicted of spying for Israel.
Parliamentary supervision
Parliamentary supervision over the intelligence community is undertaken by the Subcommittee for Intelligence and Secret Services, a subcommittee of the
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee
The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee ( he, ועדת חוץ וביטחון) is a permanent Knesset committee which oversees key Foreign and Defense issues of the State of Israel, including the drafting of legislation, supervision over relat ...
, which supervises the entire
Israeli Security Forces.
Structure and organization
The issue regarding the suitable structure of the IIC, and questions as to dividing responsibilities and jurisdictions between Aman, Shabak, and Mossad, as well as the format of work for the three in relation to
Prime Ministers
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is no ...
and Ministers, all of these became agenda issues many times in the past. Various commissions and individual inspectors were appointed throughout the years, whether due to traumatic experiences or as a matter of routine, in order to examine the issues and propose recommendations. These were:
*The Yadin-Sherf Commission (1963)
*The
Agranat Commission
The Agranat Commission (Hebrew: ועדת אגרנט) was a National Commission of Inquiry set up to investigate failings in the Israel Defense Forces in the prelude to the Yom Kippur War, when Israel was found unprepared for the Egyptian attack ag ...
(1973–74)
*The Zamir Commission (1974)
*The Commissions of
Aluf
''Aluf'' ( he, אלוף, lit=champion or "First\leader of a group" in Biblical Hebrew; ) is a senior military rank in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) for officers who in other countries would have the rank of general, air marshal, or admiral ...
Aharon Yariv (1984, 1986)
*The commission to investigate the intelligence network following the
War in Iraq
This is a list of wars involving the Republic of Iraq and its predecessor states.
Other armed conflicts involving Iraq
* Wars during Mandatory Iraq
** Ikhwan raid on South Iraq 1921
* Smaller conflicts, revolutions, coups and periphery confli ...
(2004)
The
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...
was tasked with the matter on a number of occasions and arrived at various decisions. The
State Comptroller made the issue his agenda and submitted to the
Knesset
The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...
his findings and conclusions. In 1994, the Subcommittee for Intelligence also examined the questions and brought its recommendations before the Prime Minister.
The division of labour among the intelligence arms, Aman, Shabak, and Mossad, in the current structure of the IIC, is usually established upon a geographical basis. There are interfacing and overlapping segments, often rather wide, among the organizations. The level of coordination and inter-regional cooperation has suffered in the past from fundamental shortcomings, which has hindered the effectiveness of intelligence work on several fronts. The organizations repressed the necessity for the mutual sharing of intelligence information and in synchronizing some activities.
There are still open-ended issues remaining to be discussed, including disputed ones, as to the division of jurisdictions and inter-regional sectoral boundaries. In a document known as the "
Magna Carta," the heads of the three services continue their attempt to arrive at agreements regarding these. The Intelligence Subcommittee follows this discourse and examines the steps required to practically settle key areas of dispute. If needed, the Subcommittee could become actively involved in the matter so as to ensure appropriate and reasonable standards for overall intelligence work in Israel.
Role of Aman
The historical development of the IIC destined Aman with a range of activities and tasks that are conventionally outside the realm of military intelligence in the West, such as the responsibility for intelligence research in political matters and other markedly non-military affairs. This largely followed from the reliance by the State of Israel during its first years on the IDF as an anchor and mechanism to fulfill national tasks, it being a system with organizational capacities, resources, and available human resources. As such, Aman has assumed functions which ordinarily would be handled by other intelligence agencies. Accordingly, some critics say, there is a need to reexamine the position and placement assumed by intelligence bodies within the current structure, and transferring certain strategic and political areas and non-military ones, from Aman to a civilian intelligence authority.
Reforms
The commission to investigate the intelligence network following the War in Iraq maintained that, notwithstanding the historical consolidation behind the current IIC structure, and despite the advantages gained by Aman's
Research Department and
Unit 8200
Unit 8200 ( he, יחידה 8200, ''Yehida shmone -Matayim''- "Unit eight - two hundred") is an Israeli Intelligence Corps unit of the Israel Defense Forces responsible for collecting signal intelligence (SIGINT) and code decryption. Military pu ...
during many years of service, it is finally time to restructure the IIC in accordance with a proper work distribution, professional designation, as well as a correct constitutional and legal frame of reference.
The Commission recommended on reforming the current IIC structure, ending up with three or four independent intelligence services, alongside the
National Security Council, with the distinction between them being based upon the respective spheres of responsibility of each service:
*
Aman (IDF)
The Israeli Military Intelligence ( he, אגף המודיעין; ''Agaf HaModi'in''; lit. "the Intelligence Section"), often abbreviated to Aman ( he, אמ״ן), is the central, overarching military intelligence body of the Israel Defense Forces. ...
: its jurisdiction is to consist primarily of "military intelligence"—alerting the political leadership and the security arms to the possibility of war and estimating the means of the enemy, and identifying prospective targets during a war or a limited military conflict.
*
Mossad: is to be charged with, in addition to foiling attacks, a strategic-political emphasis, which includes evaluating the stability of regimes, and engaging in industrial-scientific-technological and nuclear-related intelligence as well as against global terrorism.
*
Shabak: is to be tasked with the security of the State, its citizens, and organs, against Palestinian and other forms of terrorism, and against internal subversion.
*
National Security Council: is to evaluate global conditions according to overall intelligence, and preparing national and security responses.
*''
SIGINT
Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of '' signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ...
service'': this proposed service would supply all the other services with SIGINT intelligence.
See also
*
United States Intelligence Community
United may refer to:
Places
* United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community
* United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
Arts and entertainment Films
* ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film
* ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...
*
Pakistani Intelligence Community
The Pakistani intelligence community ( ur, ) comprises the various intelligence agencies of Pakistan that work internally and externally to manage, research and collect intelligence necessary for national security. Consolidated intelligence orga ...
*
Russian Intelligence Community
The intelligence agencies of the Russian Federation, often unofficially referred to in Russian as ''Special services'' ( rus, Спецслужбы), include:
* Federal Security Service (FSB), an agency responsible for counter-intelligence and oth ...
*
Australian Intelligence Community
Further reading
*Ephraim Kahan
"Reorganizing Israel's Intelligence Community" ''
International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence'', Volume 15, Number 3, 1 July 2002, pp. 415–428(14)
*Amir Cahane
Who will watch the watchmen? oversight of online surveillance in Israel, in "Rethinking Mass Surveillance In The Information Age" Paper Series
Israel Public Policy Instituteand Heinrich Boll Foundation (2020)
{{Israel topics
Israeli intelligence agencies
Intelligence communities