Mossad chief reshuffles Israeli spymasters - TV
Reuters
Date: 09-14-05
JERUSALEM, Sept 14 (Reuters) - The chief of Israel's spy service Mossad has appointed four new deputies in an overhaul aimed at honing the hunt for Islamist militants and tracking the Iranian nuclear programme, Israeli television said on Wednesday.
The reshuffle reported by Channel 10 is the second by Meir Dagan since he took over Mossad in 2002. According to security sources, the former army general previously fired or arranged early retirement for some 200 spies and intelligence analysts.
After al Qaeda blew up an Israeli-owned hotel and tried to shoot down an Israeli airliner in Kenya in Nov. 2002, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered Dagan to take the fight to Israel's foes abroad.
Three Lebanese guerrillas and a leading Palestinian militant in Damascus have since died in car-bombings blamed on Mossad. Israeli officials, without going into detail, say the intelligence services have foiled several Kenya-style attacks.
Believed to be the Middle East's only atomic power, Israel also wants to keep abreast of arch-foe Iran's nuclear plans.
Mossad and Israeli military intelligence were both rapped by parliament for overestimating Iraq's capabilities before the U.S. decision to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Military intelligence has so far resisted a parliamentary proposal to turn its mammoth electronic eavesdropping and research unit, known as 8200, into a civilian body that Mossad would share.
That, sources say, led Dagan to conclude Mossad should focus on classic intelligence-gathering -- by spending more of the agency's estimated annual budget of $350 million on spy missions worldwide rather than relying on satellite images and wiretaps.
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