Last Update: 03/01/2005
By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent
The Mossad is asking the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to
increase its 2005 budget to nearly twice the size of last year's budget.
Committee chairman Yuval Steinitz (Likud) supports the request, but other
committee members said the amount was too high, Army Radio reported.
Former high-ranking officials in Israel's espionage agency have long complained the Mossad wastes money in part by employing extraneous workers and allowing employees to have large expense accounts.
There are reasons the Mossad may need more money. This coming year is considered an important year for Iran's nuclear program, and the Mossad likely wants to increase its intelligence-gathering operations.
In addition, Mossad head Meir Dagan's policy of placing the fight against world terrorism at the top of the agenda requires operations in distant countries, which in turn necessitates large budgets and extra manpower.
The Mossad may also want a larger budget to give it an edge in its competition
with the Shin Bet internal security service, whose budget has increased during
the intifada.