No katsa is accepted into Mossad who is primarily motivated by money. The overly zealous Zionist has no place in this work. It gets in the way of a clear understanding of what the job is all about. It is one that calls for calm, clear, farsighted judgment and a balanced outlook. People want to join Mossad for all kinds of reasons. There is the so-called glamour. Some like the idea of adventure. Some think joining will enhance their status, small people who want to be big. A few want the secret power they believe being in Mossad would give them. None of these are acceptable reasons for joining.
And always, always, you must ensure your man in the field knows he has your total support. That you will look out for his family, make sure his kids are happy. At the same time you must protect him. If his wife starts to wonder if he has another woman reassure her he has not. If he has, don’t tell her. If she goes off the rails, bring her back on the straight and narrow. Don’t tell her husband. You want nothing to distract him. The job of a good spymaster is to treat his people as family. Make them feel he is always there for them, day, night, no matter what the time. This is how you buy loyalty, make your katsa do what you want. And in the end what you want is important.
Each katsa underwent three years of intensive training, including being subjected to severe physical violence under interrogation. He, or she, became proficient in the use of Mossad’s weapon of choice—the .22-caliber Beretta.
The first katsas stationed outside the Arab countries were in the United States, Britain, France, and Germany. In the United States there were permanent katsas in New York and Washington. The New York katsa had special responsibility for penetrating all UN diplomatic missions and the city’s many ethnic groups. The Washington katsa had a similar job, with the additional responsibility of “monitoring” the White House.
Other katsas operated in areas of current tensions, returning home when a mission ended.
Meir Amit had also considerably expanded the organization to include a Collections Department responsible for intelligence-gathering operations abroad and a Political Action and Liaison Department, working with so-called friendly foreign intelligence services, mostly the CIA and Britain’s MI6. The Research Department had fifteen sections or “desks” targeting Arab states. The United States, Canada, Latin America, Britain, Europe, and the Soviet Union all had their separate desks. This infrastructure would, over the years, expand to include China, South Africa, and the Vatican. But essentially Mossad would remain the same small organization.
A day did not pass without the arrival of a fresh sheaf of news stories from overseas stations. These were circulated throughout the drab gray high-rise building on King Saul Boulevard. In Meir Amit’s view, “If it made someone walk a little taller, that was no bad thing. And, of course, it made our enemies that more fearful.”
Mossad’s katsas were coldly efficient and cunning beyond belief—and prepared to fight fire with fire. Operatives incited disturbances designed to create mutual distrust among Arab states, planted black counterpropaganda, and recruited informers, implementing Meir Amit’s philosophy: “Divided, we rule.” In all they did, his men set new standards for cold-blooded professionalism, moving like thieves in the night leaving a trail of death and destruction. No one was safe from their retaliation.
