Israel Military Intelligence Agency

Creation

The first specialized organization engaged in military intelligence was created in Israel on June 30, 1948, as a result of the reorganization of the first Israeli Shay intelligence service. The reorganization was carried out at the direction of Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion . The new intelligence service was called “Cherut Modiin” (“Intelligence Service”, Hebrew שירות מודיעי её ), it was headed by the last head of “Shay”, Colonel Isser Beyeri ^[1] . The tasks of military intelligence were: collecting information about the armed forces of the Arab countries, censorship of the Israeli media , army security and counterintelligence ^[2] .

At this time, Israel was in a state of temporary armistice in the War of Independence 1.5 months after the invasion of the armies of 5 Arab states. Shay’s Arab agents found themselves behind the front line, and Israeli intelligence did not yet have transmitters ^[3] . Beer’s activities were seriously criticized. So, Isser Harel , who headed the Shabak security service, recalled ^[4] :

Suddenly it became clear that the style of his work is immoral and extremely dangerous. The country fought, and the chief of military intelligence Beer found time to engage in traitors, spies, the black market, speculators, and generally the devil knows what, just not his direct duties

Beery's subordinates, with his knowledge and at his instructions, arrested, tortured and even killed the suspects of treason. The most egregious case was the execution of Captain Meir of Tuvan , who was subsequently posthumously acquitted. After these events, on behalf of David Ben-Gurion, an investigative committee was created, which, having examined the activities of Beer, recommended that he be removed from his post. In November 1948, Beer was demoted to the rank and file and dismissed from the army ^{[5] [6]} . The chief of military intelligence was his deputy Haim Herzog ^[7] .

The duke in a short time was able to equip military intelligence with computers, which made it possible to reveal the relatively simple codes used by the armies of Egypt, Syria and other Arab countries ^[8] . In April 1950, the Duke was appointed Israeli military attache in Washington , and the service was headed by his deputy Benjamin Ghibli , who had by then received the rank of lieutenant general ^[9] .

After the dissolution of the Political Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the suppression in March 1951 of the so-called "riot of spies," when European operatives refused to obey orders from Israel, military intelligence received a monopoly on special operations abroad. Ghibli created for this special Unit 131 ^[10] .

After the 1951 reorganization

Military intelligence has also been reorganized. Instead of “Cherut Modiin,” it became known as Agath Modi'in shel mate ha-klali ( Hebrew אגף המודיעין ) - “Intelligence Division of the General Staff” - or abbreviated as “AMAN” and became subordinate to the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces . Intelligence of the ground forces , air force and navy were in her control. The functions of military counterintelligence (with the exception of field services) were transferred to the Israeli General Security Service, Shabak . The head of "AMAN" remained Ghibli. Censorship of the Israeli media has also been entrusted with military intelligence, and AMAN has been engaged in this work to this day ^{[11] [12]} .

The transfer of all intelligence functions to the military turned out to be not the best solution: the new head of the European residency, Lt. Col. Mordechai Ben-Tsur, was not very suitable for this work, and Ghibli himself was more inclined to sabotage than to intelligence ^[13] . Subsequently, a substantial part of these functions was transferred to the new special service - Mossad .

The result of the failure in 1954 of the Susanna sabotage operation conducted by AMAN in Egypt was a high-profile political scandal in Israel, which was called the Lavon Affair , named after the then Minister of Defense ^[14] . During the investigation, Pinchas Lavon and Benjamin Ghibli accused each other of responsibility for the failure of the operation. Ghibli claimed that he acted on the orders of Lavon, and Lavon said that there was no order, and Ghibli acted behind him. Ghibli was fired on March 7, 1955, and subsequently appointed military attache in London . After this failure, the head of the ShABAK and Mossad, Isser Harel, actually took control of all the Israeli special services.

After Ghibli’s dismissal, military intelligence was led by Major General Jehoshafat Harkaby . His leadership period has remained in history thanks to the first “point eliminations” . AMAN has found that terrorist groups attacking Israelis across the Egyptian and Jordanian borders are organized, respectively, by the head of Egyptian intelligence in Gaza, Mustafa Hafez and resident of Egyptian intelligence in Jordan, Salah Mustafa. On July 11, 1956, Hafez was blown up in his office by a book with explosives, handed over to him by his own assistant, recruited by AMAN. Colonel Salah Mustafa died the next day, having received a parcel with a bomb ^[15] . In preparation for the 1956 war, Harkabi established close cooperation with French colleagues ^[16] . These relations subsequently became the springboard for negotiations on the acquisition of a nuclear reactor by Israel.

In the same period, there were 2 scandals with employees of “Unit 131”. Avri Eljad was arrested by “Shabak” as a double agent ^[17] . The adventurer Modehai Kedar, previously recruited by military intelligence, turned out to be a criminal and was put on trial for the murder and robbery of a Jewish businessman in Argentina ^[18] .

In 1958, Harkabi was fired for poorly conducted reservist exercises , Chaim Herzog was returned to the post of chief, and in 1962 a young and ambitious general Meir Amit was appointed to lead the military intelligence ^[19] .

The Intelligence Directorate is responsible for preventing the threat of war and other hostile and terrorist acts, compiling a national intelligence assessment of the situation in the military and political sphere and providing current intelligence, as well as for proactive (preventive) intelligence in the Israel Defense Forces ^[20] .

The main tasks of the Intelligence Agency are ^[21] :

• War Threat Prevention
• Prevention of hostile and terrorist acts (based on the principles of separation of powers of intelligence services)
• Providing the army, the Minister of Defense, the Government of Israel and other official bodies with intelligence and intelligence assessment of the situation for the following purposes:
  • Formation of defense policy;
  • Strengthening the combat power of the Israel Defense Forces;
  • Planning for operations and security measures;
  • Operational use of forces during war, military operations and security measures
• Planning for intelligence gathering by all units of the Israel Defense Forces operating in the area of ​​information gathering and sending intelligence to army forces and intelligence community services, including:
  • Planning and conducting reconnaissance of sources of electromagnetic signals ;
  • Planning and conducting visual reconnaissance (with the exception of measures taken in this area by the air and naval forces, as well as by ground forces for the current needs of divisions and below);
  • Planning and conduct of intelligence in intelligence -target countries and terrorist organizations (based on the principles of separation of powers of intelligence community services) and obtaining information through interrogation of prisoners of war;
  • Planning and conducting intelligence based on open sources and obtaining information through the study of captured weapons and documentation;
  • Planning and conducting special intelligence gathering operations;
  • Planning and approval of aerial photography (with the exception of aerial photography undertaken by the air force for their own purposes), processing and analysis of the images obtained and determining priorities in the dissemination of information received (with the exception of areas of responsibility of the air force and naval forces)
• Processing, analysis and evaluation of the information collected, the formation of an intelligence assessment of the situation and intelligence reports
• Control and verification of the processes of work of units of the Israel Defense Forces operating in the field of intelligence analysis
• Responsibility for information security in the Israel Defense Forces and preventative security measures
• Formation of a policy for the implementation of measures to mislead the enemy, preparation and implementation of plans for such events
• Planning, development and implementation of measures of psychological warfare
• Definition of instructions for military censorship
• Planning and implementation of activities in the field of cartography , including the provision of maps, cartographic schemes and cartographic data to all units of the Israel Defense Forces
• Exclusive Responsibility for the Formation of Foreign Intelligence Policy of the IDF
• Preparation of command and control units for the execution of tasks and control functions as part of a plan to increase the combat power and combat training of the IDF
• Professional Responsibility for the Formation of the Intelligence Doctrine of the Israel Defense Forces

At the head of the Intelligence Directorate is the head of the Directorate ( Hebrew ראש אמ"ן , Rosh Aman ), an officer with the rank of Major General (Aluf).

The management structure includes, but is not limited to:

• Intelligence Service ( Heb. חיל המודיעין , Heyl Ha-Modiin ) - is responsible for the training and management of personnel of military intelligence units, as well as for logistics and other organizational tasks. At the head of the service is the Chief Intelligence Officer ( Hebrew קמנ"ר , Kamnar ), an officer with the rank of brigadier general (tat-aluf), who is subordinate to the head of the department.
  • The Intelligence Service is subordinate to, among other things, preparatory institutions, including the 15th educational base - the School of Intelligence ( Hebrew בה"ד 15 , Bahad Hamesh Esre ).
• Intelligence Division ( Hebrew חטיבת המחקר , Khativat Ha-Mehkar ) - is responsible for analyzing intelligence and presenting intelligence reports to the army command and political echelon. The department also has a Control Department ( Hebrew מחלקת הבקרה , mahleket ha-bakara ), whose responsibility is to critically analyze the conclusions and reports of the department.
• Unit 8200 ( Heb. יחידה 8200 , Yehida Shmonet Mataim ) is responsible for collecting and decrypting electronic intelligence .
• Unit 9900 ( Hebrew יחידה 9900 ) is responsible for collecting and decrypting photographic data from air and space carriers.
• Unit 3060 ( Hebrew יחידה 3060 ) is responsible for the research and development of technologies in the field of image processing , artificial intelligence and machine learning in order to increase the effectiveness of wrestling.
• 504th unit ( Heb. יחידה 504 , Yehida Hamesh meot ve-arba ) is responsible for collecting information through intelligence networks and informants.
• Department of Information Security ( Hebrew מחלקת ביטחון מידע , Mahletket Bitkhon Meida , abbreviated מחב"ם Mahbam ).
• Military censorship ( Heb. הצנזורה הצבאית ).
• Operational Management Division ( Heb. חטיבת ההפעלה המבצעית hativat ha-hafala ha-miwitzait ).
• Connection for Special Operations ( Hebrew מערך המבצעים המיוחדים , Maarah ha-miwitzayim ha-meyuhadim , abbreviated מ"מ meme-meme ).
• Special unit "Sayeret Matkal" .
• Center for Psychological Operations ( Hebrew. המרכז למבצעי תודעה , ha-merkaz le-mivtsaei todaa , abbreviated מל"ת malat ).

The military intelligence units professionally subordinate to the department are organizationally part of the respective units:

• Air Force Intelligence Directorate ( Heb. להק המודיעין , lahak ha-modiin , abbreviated למד"ן lamdan )
• Naval Intelligence Agency ( Hebrew מספן המודיעין , Mispan ha-modiin , abbreviated מד"ן Madan )
• District intelligence units in the Northern , Central, and Southern Military District .

The military (tactical) reconnaissance forces ( Hebrew חיל האיסוף הקר ,י , heil ha-isuf ha-kravi , in the past Hebrew חיל מודיעין השדה , heil modiin ha-sad ) are not under the control of the intelligence run by the Army Command .

• June 30 - November 1948 - Lt. Col. Isser Beeri
• November 1948 - April 1950 - Colonel Haim Herzog
• April 1950 - 03/07/1955 - Colonel Benjamin Ghibli
• 1955-1958 - Major General Jehoshafat Harkaby
• 1958-1962 - Major General Haim Herzog
• 1962-1963 - Major General Meir Amit
• 1964-1972 - Major General Aaron Yariv
• 1972-1974 - Major General Eli Zeira
• 1974-1978 - Major General Shlomo Gazit
• 1979-1983 - Major General Yehoshua Sagi
• 1983-1985 - Major General Ehud Barak
• 1986-1991 - Major General Amnon Lipkin-Shahak
• 1991-1995 - Major General Uri Sagi
• 1995-1998 - Major General Moshe Yaalon
• 1998-2002 - Major General Amos Malka
• 2002-2006 - Major General Aaron Zeevi-Farkash
• 2006—22.11.2010 - Major General Amos Yadlin
• 11/22/2010 - 09/22/2014 - Major General Aviv Kokhavi
• 09/22/2014 - 03/28/2018 - Major General Herzi Ha-Levy
• 03/28/2018 - present - Major General Tamir Hyman ^[22]

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• The structure of military intelligence AMAN (neopr.) (Unavailable link) . WarOnline - As of the beginning of the Doomsday War . Date of treatment December 8, 2010. Archived June 12, 2010.
• The Intelligence Corps Celebrates 60 Years of Success, Amir Kidon, 04 September 2008 dover.idf.il
• P. Gusterin. Head of Military Intelligence of Israel.