Military Secretary to the Prime Minister

The Military Secretary to the Prime Minister (Hebrew: המזכיר הצבאי של ראש הממשלה‎, HaMazkir HaTzva'i Shel Rosh HaMemshala), is the senior military adviser to the Prime Minister of Israel on military and national security issues. As a member of the Military Staff, the position is privy to most products of the Israeli Intelligence Community. The position's current incumbent is Brigadier General Avi Blut.

History

Earlier Military Secretaries held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel (Hebrew: סגן אלוף‎). In later years, Major-General's (Hebrew: אלוף‎) and Brigadier Generals (Hebrew: תת-אלוף‎) have served in the position.

Position's influence

It has been suggested that the raising of status of the Military Secretary has resulted in military considerations unduly weighing upon Israel's national security policy at the expense of other considerations. It has been additionally suggested that to remedy this, the position of Military Secretary ought to be held by a lower rank. Critics of this view have suggested that the Military Secretary's influence follows that of other positions, namely, the National Security Council and the National Security Advisor.[1]

List of Military Secretaries
NameTenureNotes
Lt. Colonel Nehemiah Argov1948–1957Did not serve in 1954–55
Maj. General Chaim Ben-David1957–1963
Brig. General Yisrael Lior1963–1974
Brig. General Efraim Poran1974–1981
Brig. General Azriel Nevo1981–1993
Maj. General Danny Yatom1993–1996
Maj. General Zeev Livne1996–1997
Maj. General Gadi Eisenkot1999–2001Currently Chief of General Staff.
Maj. General Moshe Kaplinsky2001–2002
Maj. General Yoav Galant2002–2005
Maj. General Gadi Shamni2005–2007
Maj. General Meir Kalifi2007–2009
Maj. General Yohanan Locker2010–2012[2]
Maj. General Eyal Zamir2012–2015
Brigadier General Eliezer Toledano 2015–2018
Brigadier General Avi Blut[3]2018–Incumbent

References
  1. Haviv Rettig Gur (6 January 2014). "Inside Israel's White House: How Netanyahu runs the country". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
  2. IAF Brig.-Gen. Yohanan Locker announced as PM's new military secretary, Jerusalem Post, 24 December, 2009
  3. Anna Ahronheim, Netanyahu appoints Col. Avi Blot as new military secretary, The Jerusalem Post, July 17, 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.