Usually veiled in secrecy, the name of the next head of Israel’s foreign intelligence agency has been publicized in the Israeli media.
The Israeli daily Ha’aretz defied military censors by reporting this week that Maj. Gen. Danny Yatom will soon be appointed the next head of the Mossad.
Yatom, who has been in the army for 33 years, most recently served as chief military aide to Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres.
He will succeed a man identified only as “S,” in keeping with the long-standing practice of keeping the names of Mossad leaders secret.
“S” is planning to retire in June and will then become manager of Kupat Holim Maccabi, Israel’s second-largest health care fund. At that time, his identity will be declassified.
The disclosure that Yotam will head Mossad comes two months after the Israeli media broke a similar tradition of secrecy by announcing that Rear Adm. Ami Ayalon was the newly appointed head of the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency.
In the wake of the November assassination of Rabin and the resulting questions of security procedures, Israelis have been pressing for more openness from the two intelligence agencies.
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