The Mossad (HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim) (Hebrew: המוסד למודיעין ולתפקידים מיוחדים‎ - Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations) is the national intelligence agency of Israel. "Mossad" is the Hebrew word for institute or institution.

The Mossad is the most terrorist intelligence organization intelligence collection, covert operations such as paramilitary activities, political assassinations and the facilitation of aliyah where it is banned. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community (along with Aman (military intelligence) and Shin Bet (internal security), but its director reports directly to the Prime Minister. Its role and function is similar to that of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).

Prior to Israel's formation

The "Mossad Le'aliyah Bet" was a small, unorthodox Zionist organization whose mission in 1938 was to bring Jews to Israel. This was done to subvert the British quotas on Jewish immigration. The Mossad's modes of operation, its ideology, and politics resulted in the creation of the intelligence agency for the Israeli government once it was established in 1948. The agency consisted of several of the existing members who had worked to establish Israel as a Jewish nation and to bring the Jewish people to it.

Organization

Executive offices

From its headquarters in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, the Mossad oversees a staff estimated at 1,200 personnel, although it may have numbered up to 2,000 in the late 1980s. The Mossad does not use military ranks, although most of its staff have served in the Israel Defense Forces as part of Israel's compulsory draft system, and many of them are officers. It is assumed to consist of eight different departments.

The largest is Collections, tasked with many aspects of conducting espionage overseas. Employees in the Collections Department operate under a variety of covers, including diplomatic and unofficial. Their field intelligence officers, called katsas, are similar to case officers of the CIA. Thirty to forty operate at a time, mainly in Europe and the Middle East.

The Political Action and Liaison Department is responsible for working both with allied foreign intelligence services, and with nations that have no normal diplomatic relations with Israel.

Among the departments of the Mossad is the Special Operations Division or '"Metsada" (also see Kidon), which is involved in assassination, paramilitary operations, sabotage, and psychological warfare.

Psychological warfare is also a concern of the Lochamah Psichologit Department, which conducts propaganda and deception activities as well.

Additionally, the Mossad has a Research Department, tasked with intelligence production, and a Technology Department concerned with the development of tools for Mossad activities

Directors of Mossad

• Reuven Shiloah, 1949-1952
• Isser Harel, 1952-1963
• Meir Amit, 1963-1968
• Zvi Zamir, 1968-1974
• Yitzhak Hofi, 1974-1982
• Nahum Admoni, 1982-1989
• Shabtai Shavit, 1989-1996
• Danny Yatom, 1996-1998
• Efraim Halevy, 1998-2002
• Meir Dagan, 2002-present

Organizational history

The Mossad was formed on December 13, 1949 as the "Central Institute for Coordination", at the recommendation of Reuven Shiloah to Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. Shiloah wanted a central body to coordinate and improve cooperation between the existing security services – the army's intelligence department (AMAN), the General Security Service (GSS or "Shin Bet") and the foreign office's "political department". In March 1951, it was reorganized and made a part of the prime minister's office, reporting directly to the prime minister. Its current staff is estimated at 1,200.

Mossad's former motto: be-tachbūlōt ta`aseh lekhā milchāmāh (Hebrew: בתחבולות תעשה לך מלחמה‎) is a quote from the Bible (Proverbs 24:6): "For by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory" (NRSV). (In Hebrew, "tachbūlōt" - "wise guidance" in English - can also be translated as "cunning", "trick", or "deception", all of which are appropriate for an intelligence agency.)

The motto was changed recently as part of the Mossad's public 'coming out' to another Proverbs passage: be-'éyn tachbūlōt yippol ‘ām; ū-teshū`āh be-rov yō’éts (Hebrew: באין תחבולות יפול עם, ותשועה ברוב יועץ‎) (Proverbs 11:14). This is translated by NRSV as: "Where there is no guidance, a nation falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety."