Officials at Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's
office are satisfied with Mossad chief Meir Dagan's performance and have recently decided to extend his tenure to 2009, Channel 2 reported Friday. This is the second time Dagan's tenure is extended.
A year ago, Olmert and Dagan came to an agreement that the Mossad chief will stay in office until the end of 2008. The two agreed that the main mission of the Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations would continue to be collecting information on the Iranian nuclear threat.
During that meeting, the prime minister expressed his satisfaction with Dagan's performance and with the organization's success in meeting its goals.
Major-General (res.) Dagan was appointed Mossad chief in 2002 by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, replacing Ephraim Halevy. Dagan served in the IDF for 32 years, during which he served as head of the operations division in the General Staff.
During his military service, Dagan was injured twice and was decorated with the Medal of Courage. After retiring from the army he headed the Counter-Terrorism Bureau.
Details from a meeting
held between Olmert, Dagan and Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin were published about a year ago. According to the reports, Dagan and Diskin expressed harsh criticism against the results of the Second Lebanon War,
referring to it as "a national catastrophe."
They had also criticized the performance of then IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, hinting that he should resign or be dismissed.
RSS
