The Israeli Intelligence Community is made up of Aman (military intelligence),

Mossad Mossad ( , ), ; ar, الموساد, al-Mōsād, ; , short for ( he, המוסד למודיעין ולתפקידים מיוחדים, links=no), meaning 'Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations'. is the national intelligence agency ...

(overseas intelligence) and Shabak (internal security).

Current agencies

* Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman): the supreme military-intelligence branch of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) :* Intelligence Corps: the main intelligence-collection and -analysis body of the

IDF General Staff Israeli General Staff or General Headquarters ( he, המטה הכללי של צה"ל), abbreviated Matkal (מטכ"ל), is the supreme command of the Israel Defense Forces. It is based in the Kirya compound (Rabin Camp) in Tel Aviv. Members The ...

; also includes the Israeli

signals-intelligence Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is list of intelligence gathering disciplines, intelligence-gathering by interception of ''Signal, signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from ele ...

agency known as Unit 8200 :*

Information Security Department {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009 The Information Security Department ( he, המערך לביטחון מידע, ''HaMa'arakh LeVithon Meida'', abbreviated to ''Mahbam'') is a department in the Israel Defense Forces' Directorate of Military Intell ...

: the main information-security and counterintelligence unit of Aman :*

Research Department Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

: the main all-source intelligence-assessment unit of Aman :*

Air Intelligence Directorate The Israeli Air Intelligence Group ( he, להק מודיעין, Lahak Modi'in; also known as Lamdan, its Hebrew acronym) is a unit of the Israel Defense Forces Air Force. Like other IDF intelligence gathering bodies, it is professionally subordin ...

: the intelligence unit of the Israeli Air Force :* Naval Intelligence Division: the intelligence unit of the Israeli Navy :* Combat Intelligence Collection Corps: the intelligence unit of Israeli Ground Forces :* Sayeret Matkal (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 Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

, Home Front). *

: the

agency Agency may refer to: Organizations * Institution, governmental or others ** Advertising agency or marketing agency, a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients ** Employment agency, a business that ...

responsible primarily for foreign-intelligence work * Shabak ("Shin bet"): the organization charged with maintaining internal security, including in the Israeli-occupied territories *The intelligence branch of the

Israeli Police The Israel Police ( he, משטרת ישראל, ''Mišteret Yisra'el''; ar, شرطة إسرائيل, ''Shurtat Isrāʼīl'') is the civilian police force of Israel. As with most other police forces in the world, its duties include crime fightin ...

*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 In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

Former agencies

* Nativ: the organization responsible for bringing Jews from

Soviet Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

countries, a later manifestation of the Mossad Le'aliyah Bet. Following the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

in the 1990s, it moved out of the intelligence community and became a department within the Prime Minister's office. * Lekem: the agency responsible for obtaining and securing secret technology. It was dissolved in 1986, and its director, Rafi Eitan, resigned over the exposure of Jonathan Pollard, 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, 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 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 (1973–74) *The Zamir Commission (1974) *The Commissions of Aluf Aharon Yariv (1984, 1986) *The commission to investigate the intelligence network following the War in Iraq (2004) The government 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 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 (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the ...

," 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

and Unit 8200 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 A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...

, with the distinction between them being based upon the respective spheres of responsibility of each service: * Aman (IDF): 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. *

: 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. *

: is to evaluate global conditions according to overall intelligence, and preparing national and security responses. *'' SIGINT service'': this proposed service would supply all the other services with SIGINT intelligence.