barfly
24-05-04, 15:31
JERUSALEM, May 24 (Reuters) - The Israeli spy agency Mossad
emerged from the shadows on Monday when it launched a Web site
to attract recruits for "special tasks" -- as well as
intelligence analysts, waiters and drivers.
Long a secretive elite, Mossad is raising its profile to
compete with the private sector in the search for talent.
"Mossad's mainstay is its people," reads the site's
(www.mossad.gov.il) foreword by agency chief Meir Dagan, posted
next to backlit photographs of unnamed intelligence analysts at
their desks.
The launch of the site is the spy agency's second break with
the era of the old-boy network whereby veteran agents would tap
their friends when job openings appeared.
Dagan's predecessor Efraim Halevy began the trend in 2000 by
placing advertisements for case officers in the Israeli press --
a big change for an agency whose motto is the biblical proverb
"Without subterfuge, the nation falls".
Halevy argued market forces took precedence over mystique.
"The days when a security career was seen as the be-all and
end-all of Israeli citizenship are over," he told Reuters. "Now
we are an open society, and Mossad has had to appeal to the
widest range of talented applicants who might otherwise head for
hi-tech or other private sectors."
For decades, Mossad had a reputation for deadly derring-do.
In 1960, its agents captured Nazi fugitive Adolf Eichmann in
Argentina. After 11 Israeli athletes were killed by Palestinian
gunmen at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Mossad hunted for
the masterminds, killing some of them.
But Mossad has also been embarrassed by a series of bungles.
In 1997 its agents botched an attempt on the life of a leader of
the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Jordan. In 1998 a Mossad
team was arrested in Switzerland while spying on a local man
believed linked to Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas.
Mossad's U.S. counterpart, the Central Intelligence Agency,
has had a Web site since 1995. But Yossi Melman, senior security
correspondent for Haaretz newspaper, said it was too early to
trumpet a new American-style transparency in Mossad.
"This is basically a belated employment move which Mossad is
making the most of," Melman said, noting that the Web site
advertises for English-speaking waiters and bus drivers as well
as analysts, translators and agents for "special tasks".
Dus als er iemand verlegen zit om werk? Niet zeuren dat je geen kansen krijgt! :fplet:
emerged from the shadows on Monday when it launched a Web site
to attract recruits for "special tasks" -- as well as
intelligence analysts, waiters and drivers.
Long a secretive elite, Mossad is raising its profile to
compete with the private sector in the search for talent.
"Mossad's mainstay is its people," reads the site's
(www.mossad.gov.il) foreword by agency chief Meir Dagan, posted
next to backlit photographs of unnamed intelligence analysts at
their desks.
The launch of the site is the spy agency's second break with
the era of the old-boy network whereby veteran agents would tap
their friends when job openings appeared.
Dagan's predecessor Efraim Halevy began the trend in 2000 by
placing advertisements for case officers in the Israeli press --
a big change for an agency whose motto is the biblical proverb
"Without subterfuge, the nation falls".
Halevy argued market forces took precedence over mystique.
"The days when a security career was seen as the be-all and
end-all of Israeli citizenship are over," he told Reuters. "Now
we are an open society, and Mossad has had to appeal to the
widest range of talented applicants who might otherwise head for
hi-tech or other private sectors."
For decades, Mossad had a reputation for deadly derring-do.
In 1960, its agents captured Nazi fugitive Adolf Eichmann in
Argentina. After 11 Israeli athletes were killed by Palestinian
gunmen at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Mossad hunted for
the masterminds, killing some of them.
But Mossad has also been embarrassed by a series of bungles.
In 1997 its agents botched an attempt on the life of a leader of
the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Jordan. In 1998 a Mossad
team was arrested in Switzerland while spying on a local man
believed linked to Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas.
Mossad's U.S. counterpart, the Central Intelligence Agency,
has had a Web site since 1995. But Yossi Melman, senior security
correspondent for Haaretz newspaper, said it was too early to
trumpet a new American-style transparency in Mossad.
"This is basically a belated employment move which Mossad is
making the most of," Melman said, noting that the Web site
advertises for English-speaking waiters and bus drivers as well
as analysts, translators and agents for "special tasks".
Dus als er iemand verlegen zit om werk? Niet zeuren dat je geen kansen krijgt! :fplet: