Sun-Tzu wrote that “military affairs are vital political concerns of the country,” and to do that you need to have good intelligence gathering agencies, and if you have fewer resources than your enemies, the most vital information is for your cause. The nation of Israel has that same problem, and with enemies that are willing to fight for centuries, every blow has to count. Like many nations today, Israel has to deal with fanatics and conventional military threats in its mists and from outside its country. In any conflict, training is important and is continually valued and improved by Mossad to deal with new enemies.
The Mossad, which is Hebrew for “institute,” was created to help better coordinate Israel’s intelligence gathering agencies, and its responsibilities include gathering for human intelligence, covert paramilitary actions, and counterterrorism operations. The agency was heavily influenced by the CIA model and quickly produced results for the new nation. The agency’s roots began in the Mossad Le’aliyah Bet, which dedicated itself to bringing Jews to Palestine despite British immigration laws restricting the number of immigrants to the region, but once Israel became a nation , the group’s focus was on intelligence work. Reuven Shiloah became the first director of the Mossad and would win the Arab League in the first Arab-Israeli war. Over the years, the agency has had many critics, but few dispute the fact that they get the job done.
Today, the Mossad headquarters is in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, and it employs an unknown number of agents, but there are believed to be 8 departments and more than 1,000 active agents. Among the agency’s departments is the Special Operations Division, which is charged with murder, sabotage and psychological warfare. Other departments handle aspects of intelligence work, including maintaining diplomatic relations with Israel’s enemies, and the agency has its own research and development departments, but like everyone else, little is known about its operations.
Given that Israel had compulsory military service, it is safe to assume that most of its agents have been trained in hand-to-hand combat and many have combat experience. Krav Maga, Israel’s martial art, is taught to officers for self-defense, as well as knife fighting and sentry clearance. Many veterans of the agency worked as commandos in the Israel Defense Forces, so their operations have been influenced by this experience, as well as the street fighting they have had to do over the years.
A Mossad case officer or katsa spends three years training at the Mossad academy near the city of Herzliya. There they learn how to recruit intelligence assets and avoid enemy agents. They are believed to operate in the Middle East and Europe, but some believe they operate in the United States as well, and prior to the 9/11 attack, the Mossad warned the United States that some 200 enemy terrorists were in the country, though not they did it. know specifically what they were doing.
The truth is still in the shadows when it comes to many operations, but agents have used bombs, bullets, and even kidnapped people to achieve their goals, and only recently has torture been officially banned by the state. The operations have involved everything from hunting down Nazi war criminals to hunting down and killing terrorists. During the Six Day War in 1967, Israeli intelligence was responsible for helping destroy much of Egypt’s air force, but it also sparked the attack on the United States Navy technical research ship, USS Liberty. Like any intelligence agency, its failures are public and its successes are private, but by and large the Israelis are at the top of the game. Like martial arts, intelligence is a force multiplier that allows you to do more damage with less, and Israel will always be at a disadvantage, but that doesn’t mean it can’t win.