‘Agent a’ & ‘Agent K’, Two Women at the Top of Mossad Make It an Unusual First
‘Agent A’ is new director of the intelligence authority at Mossad, while ‘K’ heads Iran desk. Israeli intelligence agency issues rare press release to highlight women in top roles.
The Mossad, Israel’s storied national intelligence agency, now has women in two of its top positions for the first time. Agent ‘A’ — also known as ‘Aleph’, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet — is the newly appointed director of the intelligence authority, while ‘K’ (or ‘Kuf’) was already serving as head of the Iran desk.
The Times of Israel reported that the usually clandestine agency had highlighted these appointments in a rare press release on 18 August.
The Mossad was established in 1949 as the Central Institute for Coordination after a recommendation was made by David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel, to Reuven Shiloah, the first director of the intelligence agency.
It forms a core component of the country’s intelligence community, along with the Shin Bet, which looks into internal security, and Aman, which is responsible for military intelligence. The Mossad’s current director is David Barnea.
The first woman to hold a senior position at the Mossad was Aliza Magen, who served as the deputy director nearly thirty years ago.
Intelligence veterans
According to a press release from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, “‘A’ has served in the Mossad, at the heart of its intelligence operations, for approximately 20 years.”
The director of the intelligence authority at Mossad is in charge of creating the framework for dealing with Iran’s nuclear programme, terrorism, and enhancement of relations with the Arab world.
Further, Agent ‘A’ — whose deputy, ‘H’ is also a woman — is responsible for “intelligence regarding all Mossad operations and manages hundreds of employees in the collection, research, and analysis of intelligence,” added the release.
According to reports, at an award ceremony a few months ago, ‘A’ said, “I will utilise this distinguished platform to call on women to realise their potential and influence in the security establishment, particularly the combat or technological units, in order to continue making their mark.”
As for the head of the Iran desk, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office noted that K is an “intelligence veteran”, serving in “one of the organisation’s most senior, significant, and influential positions.”
The head of the Iran desk is responsible for all strategies in dealing with “all aspects of the Iranian threat”. Further, the head is also given the responsibility of leading the integration of operations, technology, and intelligence within the Mossad, in conjunction with Israel’s other security services.
Intelligence chiefs in USA and UK
The United Kingdom and the United States of America have both had female chiefs in various intelligence agencies.
Stella Rimington served as the first woman director general (D-G) of the British domestic counter-intelligence agency MI5.
Rimington was the D-G of MI5 from 1992 to 1996. More recently, Elizabeth Manningham-Buller served as the D-G of MI5 from 2002 to 2007. However, Britain’s foreign intelligence agency, the Secret Intelligence Service (commonly known as MI6) has never had a woman chief.
In America, Gina Haspel was the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2018 to 2021. She was the first female to hold the position on a permanent basis. Meroe Park was the acting head from 20 to 23 January 2017.
Avril Haines was sworn in as the first female director of national intelligence in the US in January 2021.
In India, neither the Intelligence Bureau (IB), nor the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) has had a woman director. However, Renuka Mattoo, from the Indian Police Service (IPS), served as the special director in the Intelligence Bureau.
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