Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to announce his choice for the next Mossad director in the coming days, as the race to succeed outgoing intelligence chief David Barnea enters its final stretch.
A source familiar with the matter said the decision is imminent, with Barnea set to conclude his five-year term and leave office in June. Two senior Mossad officials — Barnea’s deputy and another high-ranking figure within the agency — are the leading internal contenders. However, Netanyahu is also weighing an external option, including his close confidant and military secretary, Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman.
Gofman’s potential candidacy has drawn renewed scrutiny. Last year it emerged that while he was commanding Division 210 in the Golan Heights, he authorized the use of a teenager for an influence operation. The youth was later detained for more than a year on suspicion of publishing classified material online, before charges were dropped when it became clear he had been acting under military direction.
Barnea remains the last senior security chief who was in office on October 7 and still holds his position. Since then, a string of key figures — including former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Shin Bet head Ronen Bar and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi — were dismissed or resigned, along with multiple generals.
Netanyahu’s relationship with Barnea has fluctuated over the past year. Barnea headed Israel’s negotiation team for the hostage-release deal and won praise for overseeing the detonation of thousands of pagers in Lebanon during the conflict with Hezbollah, as well as operations targeting Iran’s nuclear program during the war with Iran in June. Yet Netanyahu later removed both Barnea and Bar from the Israel-Hamas cease-fire negotiations and appointed former minister Ron Dermer in their place.
Tensions resurfaced when Netanyahu appeared to suggest that Barnea had failed to inform him that Hezbollah suspected the pagers were booby-trapped. The Prime Minister’s Office later rejected those accusations, calling them false and insisting the delay in communication had been purely technical. Officials said Netanyahu continues to fully support Barnea and regards the pager operation as one of his most significant achievements.
With the Mossad transition approaching and internal rivalries sharpening, Netanyahu’s upcoming decision is expected to shape the future direction of Israel’s intelligence establishment at a moment of ongoing regional volatility.
