DEPARTMENT OF MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.See MILITARY
INTELLIGENCE.DEVIL’S ADVOCATE/IPKHA MISTABRA.Following the recom-
mendation of the Agranat Commissionin 1973–1974), a Control
Unit was established in Military Intelligence(MI) of the Israel De-
fense Forces. The unit is expected to play the Devil’s advocate, pro-
ducing a range of explanations and assessments of events to avoid
any reliance on a single “concept,” as was the case on the eve of the
1973 Yom Kippur War. The Control Unit is composed of two offi-
cers, subordinate to the director of MI and not to the head of the Re-
search Division, so as not to be influenced by that commander or feel
obliged to provide the same assessment as his. The Control Unit of-
ficers may produce alternative assessments on any topic they choose
or choose topics according to instructions given to them.DICHTER, AVRAHAM (AVI) (1953– ).Born in Ashkelon, Israel, in
his national service in the Israel Defense Forces, Dichter served in
the elite Sayeret Matkalunit. Soon after demobilization, he joined
the Israeli Security Agency(ISA), steadily rising through the ranks
to the highest echelons. In 2000 he was appointed director of the ISA.
Concluding his service in 2005, Dichter’s legacy is a security service
system that contained Palestinian terrorism.
Dichter led the ISA with great success during the difficult period of
the second Palestinian uprising, the so-called Al-Aqsa Intifada. Under
his directorship, the ISA had to tackle various kinds of Palestinian ter-
rorism, including suicide bombers, as well as the potential terrorism of
extremist Jews who could even undertake the most extreme measure of
blowing up Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Dichter supported the build-
ing of a security fence between Israel and the Palestinians as a barrier
to terrorism—even if, as he himself said, it already appears obsolete.DIRECTORATE OF MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.See MILITARY
INTELLIGENCE.DIRECTOR OF SECURITY FOR THE DEFENSE ESTABLISH-
MENT (DSDE).The DSDE is the head of a certain unit in the Israeli
Defense Ministry known by its Hebrew acronym MALMAB; however,DIRECTOR OF SECURITY FOR THE DEFENSE ESTABLISHMENT•7706-102 (02) A-G.qxd 3/24/06 7:23 AM Page 77