ligence information by plugging into the telephone systems of Arab
countries to eavesdrop and record land-line conversations. The Col-
lection Department also operates human intelligence (HUMINT),
running agents and informers just over Israel’s borders through its
Unit 504. The Collection Department is responsible for collecting in-
formation from open sources (OSINT) through a section known in
Hebrew as Homer Tsevai Bariah (Hatsav) that scans the print and
electronic media, including the Internet, for unwittingly exposed mil-
itary matter.
MI serves as the professional authority for the Israel Air Force’s
Air Intelligence Squadron, which through Unit 9200 activates un-
manned small aircraft; the Israeli Navy’s Naval Intelligence
Squadron; and the intelligence units at the headquarters of the vari-
ous field corps and in the regional commands.
The intelligence corps, headed by the chief intelligence officer
with the rank of brigadier general, is subordinate to the DMI with the
rank of major general. Intelligence Corps headquarters oversees the
collection units and is in charge of the corps’ professionalism and ad-
ministrative organization.
The Research Division is the largest part of the MI, with
3,000–7,000 officers and other ranks. This division receives and an-
alyzes information assembled by the entire Israeli intelligence com-
munity—MI itself, the Mossad, and the ISA. It publishes the Daily
Information Digestand other periodical assessments, of which the
best known is the Annual National Intelligence Evaluation. The Re-
search Division is organized into subunits, divided according to geo-
graphical and functional targets. Prior to the 1973 Yom Kippur War,
each subunit was called anaf(branch). Branch 2was responsible for
Jordan and the Arabian Peninsula; Branch 3 for the world powers;
Branch 5for Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq; Branch 6for Egypt, Sudan,
and North Africa; and Branch 7for technological developments.
Branch Air 4 was the intelligence squadron of the Israel Air Force.
Today, the Research Division is divided into “theaters” (zirot[pl.] in
Hebrew). North Theater(Zira Tsefonit, or Zitsap) is responsible for
Lebanon and Syria, Central Theater(Zira Merkazit, or Zimar) for
Iran, Iraq, northern Jordan, and Saudi Arabia; and South Theater
(Zira Dromit, or Zidar) for Egypt and southern Jordan. In addition,
there are the Terror Theater(Zirat Terror, or Zitar), World TheaterMILITARY INTELLIGENCE/AGAF MODI’IN• 18306-102 (03) H-P.qxd 3/24/06 7:25 AM Page 183