Ronen Bar, who will begin his tenure as the new chief of the Shin Bet security agency on Wednesday, published an article last April on the Intelligence Heritage Center website in which, in retrospect, he laid out the path he intends to lead the agency in the coming years.
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Under the headline, "Leadership Under Fire of Integrativeness," Bar noted that in light of developments in the intelligence sphere, the only option is to combine the various intelligence gathering bodies and blur the traditional lines that previously separated them.
"The introduction of the cyber dimension and the changes in the diplomatic sphere, essentially turn the boundaries between the traditional [intelligence] organizations and the hierarchical and command processes – which are so efficient on the battlefield and during operations – into hindrances to integrated systems… and building an efficient force," Bar wrote in his article.
"In the era of the cyber spectrum, even a supposedly clear issue such as state sovereignty cannot be reduced to a question of geographical borders," he added.
As it pertains to espionage, Bar says the field has changed dramatically in terms of methods of operation, targets and potential damage. It is now more than simply trying to "create access to classified information, but also attempting to influence publics and individuals, creating 'truth' and affirming and disrupting information and processes that could undermine regimes and systems of government," Bar wrote.
"The ever-increasing use of cyber as a foundation of modern war that is open to individuals, organizations and countries, makes it even more difficult to create boundaries of jurisdiction or specialization, whether inside the security organizations and certainly between them, and this, too, requires a restructuring," he said.
Bar warned that government and security agencies could struggle to respond quickly enough to the speed of changes because officials "could pull toward creating hierarchal and cumbersome solutions that are incompatible with the enemy's rate of change."
On the other hand, other bodies are capable of acting more quickly and efficiently, which raises the need for integration between the various organizations – Shin Bet, Mossad, IDF, Israel Police and the National Cyber Directorate – to provide an efficient solution to any new situation.
To this end, Bar noted, several inter-organizational steps must be taken, including coordination conducive to a "friendly body" joining another to help carry out missions. He said these organizations must exchange and share personnel because in his view: "Small numbers of exchanges create a big difference."
According to Bar, while there is room for each organization to preserve its respective DNA, it is also important to evolve and be capable of cooperation – which, as stated, can be facilitated by exchanging quality personnel. This idea, one can only assume, will also be supported by the Mossad, for example, as Bar and David Barnea, the new Mossad director, both joined the IDF's elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit in the same year and served together as fighters.
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