The director of Mossad by the time…

The director of Mossad by the time of Isser Harel's retirement is chair of a committee presiding over the entire Israeli intelligence system, which constitutes five major organizations.

A second is Shin Bet, after the Hebrew initials for General Security Services.

Its main function is internal counterintelligence.

Shin Bet, a.k.a. Shabak, is an investigative agency—essentially, the Israeli Secret Service—with a political flavor.

A third major Israeli agency is the Intelligence Corps of the Defense Forces, commonly referred to as Military Intelligence. (Some see it as a rival to Mossad, and conflicts between them have been reported.)

Its chief is the military intelligence adviser to the defense minister.

A fourth agency, the Research Department of the Foreign Ministry, is a relatively small unit that focuses on political information, including policy-oriented studies and the evaluation of information supplied through diplomatic channels.

The fifth member of the system—the Special Investigations Department of the Israel Police Force—is concerned with criminal investigations inside Israel's boundaries.

Israeli intelligence has the advantage of a cosmopolitan population, providing persons whose language and experience enable them to pose as citizens of Chicago, Munich, London, Rome, or even Cairo.

Recruitment is thought to be from three main sources: the Haganah, the one-time illegal Jewish army in Palestine, with its allied intelligence agency; ex-members of the Irgun and Stern terrorist groups from the pre-state era; and the newer immigrants.