David Barnea is Next Mossad Director
25 May, 2021 |
5 years ago
Jerusalem, 25 May, 2021 (TPS-IL) -- David Barnea will be the next to lead Israel’s Mossad espionage agency, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Monday evening.
Barnea, 56, is married and the father of four.
He served in the IDF in the elite Sayeret Matkal reconnaissance unit.
He has an MA in Business Administration, with a focus in finance, from New York University. He has served as a senior business manager at an investment bank in Israel.
He was recruited to the Mossad in 1996 for an intelligence-gathering officers’ course and was posted in an operational branch. He later commanded operational units in Israel and abroad.
From 2013-2019, he commanded the Mossad’s Tzomet Branch, which received four Israel Security Prize awards during his tenure. The Tzomet Branch operates the intelligence-gathering officers and the Mossad’s network of agents around the world
From 2019 until the present, he has served as Mossad Deputy Director.
He will take up the post as Director of the Mossad and replace Yossi Cohen next week.
Speaking at an event for the PM’s Prize for Mossad Operations on Monday evening, Cohen praised Barnea and wished him great success in his post.
He added that he “is convinced that his successor will achieve great things and continue to lead the Mossad to operational successes and significant achievements.”
The Mossad’s primary focus will remain on Iran and its attempt to acquire nuclear weapons.
