Soldier Spies: Israeli Military Intelligence

After its brilliant successes in the Six-Day War, the War of Attrition and the campaign against Black September, A'MAN, Israel's oldest intelligence agency, fell prey to institutional hubris. A'MAN's dangerous overconfidence only deepened, Katz here reveals, after spectacular coups such as its taping of a stragetic phone conference between Egypt's President Nasser and Jordan's King Hussein, and individual A'MAN exploits such as agent Eli Cohen's masquerade in Syria as an Arab, during which he gathered information used to great advantage during the Six-Day War. A'MAN's great crisis was the surprise Arab attack initiating the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Katz describes the agency's vital role in the close victory over Egypt and Syria, its reorganization, and its participation in subsequent operations, including the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. A'MAN's importance to the security of Israel was highlighted in the summer of 1990, when the intelligence corps officially became the Israel Defense Force's fourth branch of service, joining the army, navy and air force. The book is a soundly researched review by a former member of the IDF. Photos. (Aug.)