Mossad's new outsider: Inside Roman Gofman's uphill battle as Israel's spy chief - exclusive

Gofman, 49, moved to Israel from Belarus at the age of 14 and was never supposed to be the Mossad chief.

Had he not been appointed Mossad director – a role he assumes in June 2026 – he might have moved on from being Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military secretary to some other role in the IDF high command, depending on his relations with IDF Chief of Staff Lt-Gen. Eyal Zamir.

Zamir may have been suspicious of Gofman – as IDF chiefs sometimes are of a prime minister’s military secretary in terms of how loyal they are to the defense or political establishment – and moved him to a non-promotion track.

Military secretaries often get more senior roles when an IDF chief gets support from the prime minister on some other issue in return for promoting the military secretary.

But all of that is now irrelevant, as Gofman will be leaping up to head a global spy service juggernaut, which will essentially make him Zamir’s equal.

Unlike with David Zini’s appointment as an outsider to head the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), there will be no legal processes to hold up Gofman’s appointment.

Some question Gofman’s qualifications – in fact, Zini had slightly more support in the Shin Bet than Gofman has in the Mossad – but no legal issues are in play.

There might be a wave of Mossad official resignations in protest that one of their own – “A” was the leading candidate – was not given the job. It hurts him that he was not Barnea’s pick, and that former senior Mossad officials have come out against him as being unqualified, the Post has learned.

But the selection of every Mossad chief leads to resignations or firings, as there are always different wings of the Mossad, and each new leader has new priorities.

If some of the top-level Mossad officials resign or are fired, the ones on the second level are generally happy to take their place.

And on Wednesday, it was announced that “A” has become Mossad deputy director, which could signal greater stability for when Gofman enters office in six months.

So, the real challenge will have nothing to do with politics. It will be answering the question: Can Gofman rise to learn rapidly enough how to lead an agency that he has no background or experience in?

Meir Dagan did it. He was an IDF major-general with no Mossad experience like Gofman.

Dagan ended up leading the agency from 2002-2011 and was nicknamed “Superman” for some of his heroic leadership.

Danny Yatom was less successful. He was an IDF major-general with no Mossad experience, but he was forced to resign after just two and a half years into an average five-year term, when an assassination he planned went awry.

The other six of the last eight Mossad directors since 1982 all came from the agency, including every chief since 2011.

So, what are Gofman’s chances?

That is not because he is not ready to toss a biting or satirical comment toward someone who he views as deserving, e.g., his famous rebuke as a mid-level IDF officer of then-IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot in front of other officers for acting too passively versus Hamas in Gaza.

But rather, it speaks to his internal seriousness and 24/7 job focus.

He is 100% about security and does not have time for nonsense.

DESPITE THOSE questioning his lack of a Mossad background, the Post found he has some notable supporters.

Ilan Malka rose to eventually be an IDF brigadier-general and then deputy chief of the Israel Prison Service.

But before those posts, Malka commanded the Givati Brigade in 2000, which had a young tank company commander named Gofman in the Netzarim area of Gaza.

In one instance, Malka said, they had faced a surprise attack, but one of the big challenges was trying to track and find the Gaza invaders after they were already in Israeli territory.

He said Gofman, who became a top boxer in Ashdod as an adolescent, rode at the lead of his tank unit, found the invaders after only 20 minutes, overcame them, and took over their position almost single-handedly, as well as keeping up tank fire against any additional threats afterward.

If there is any question about whether Gofman has lost his fearlessness and become detached from what is really going on in the field due to recent years in higher command positions, one needs to only watch the short video of his charging into battle with Hamas on October 7, 2023, with no backup.

When Gofman was wounded in the leg, he became, as a brigadier-general, the highest-ranking wounded officer of the war.

Sometimes, having that cache as someone who has taken risks in battle, like the Mossad agents he will be sending into danger, can build a deep sense of organizational loyalty that translates into higher results.

Malka describes Gofman as thoughtful, brave, clear, highly professional, and as someone who doesn’t hesitate to act in a crisis just because he has not yet received orders.

During a speech that Gofman gave in Gush Etzion on Hanukkah during that period, another supporter of his, Yehuda Vlad, a senior Religious Zionist Party official, said he had talked not only about the military’s successes but about its failures.

Gofman said how to rise and learn from failures was one of the key sources of strength of Israel’s defense establishment.

He spoke about honoring the spirit of fallen Palmah major Daniel Mass, who rushed to reinforce the Gush Etzion bloc, which was under attack in 1948 despite being outnumbered.

Gofman continued to discuss how the “internal light” of Mass, of Hanukkah, and of the Jewish nation are the secret to return strong after a defeat, even if the road to a comeback is long.

The Mossad is a brilliant agency, but it has many failures as well, and many missions that must be aborted or altered radically in real time.

A commander who is not afraid to look failure in the eye, and learn from it, may have a one-up on others who might be blinded to critical information by their own ego – something that took hold of much of the political and defense establishment on October 7.

Another supporter, IDF Lt.-Col. (res.) Tuvia Brukner, has said a book Gofman wrote about fighting while he was the commander of Division 210 from 2020-2022 showed serious strategic and analytical thought.

Brukner also cited stories about the lengths that Gofman has gone to show sympathy for his fallen troops, including one who both he and Brukner served with. This is once again a sign of a commander who knows how to build cohesion within a larger agency.

MULTIPLE SOURCES have told stories about Gofman coming to the Eli Yeshiva in Samaria – wearing no kippah, since he is not formally religious – to study Jewish texts. They said he wanted to increase his commitment to the Jewish people, Jewish history, and to better connect with religious sectors of Israel, which he knew little about, coming from a secular Belarusian background.

Besides ingratiating himself with the religious-Zionist sector, which he grew up with little connection to, this story shows his readiness to dig deep into new areas to reinvent himself with new tools and perspectives and to elevate his game.

This will not only be important generally in learning the role of a spy agency versus a military, but also because most indications are that his English is weaker than many of his recent predecessors.

While he has fluent Russia, which will give him an advantage in dealing with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he has already dealt with personally as Netanyahu’s military secretary, there are concerns that he has less of an understanding of the US and the West than his predecessors beyond the issue of speaking English.

His supporters respond that as Netanyahu’s military secretary, Gofman not only dealt with the Mossad but with a wide variety of geopolitical issues, including relating to the US and the West.

They acknowledge that he may need a translator in meetings with US and Western officials, which might usually have taken place with no one else present. But many countries’ spy chiefs have conducted their global clandestine relations with other spy chiefs with a translator present.

There have been allegations that Gofman is too close to the prime minister and his wife, Sara Netanyahu.

Regardless of whether the allegations are true, we will soon see if the issue impacts his performance.

But it is worth noting that the same allegations were made about Yossi Cohen, who is now considered to be one of the most successful Mossad chiefs.

It is important to recall that the Mossad answers directly to the prime minister, unlike the IDF, which is in some ways its own entity. So, having stronger backing from the prime minister, provided the Mossad director is qualified, can be a boon to the agency in terms of having greater financial backing and readiness to approve new initiatives and daring operations.

Some critics have said that Malka’s complement of Gofman, i.e., that he acts rapidly even without waiting to receive orders at times, could be a significant negative as Mossad chief.

A spymaster must play a long-term game of three-dimensional chess to ascertain what the right move is at any specific moment, and being overly spontaneous can lead to disaster. Sacrificing an intelligence source for a quick short-term win is often not the right move.

These critics say Gofman had received a censure from the military for his management of a psychological warfare operation when he was the Division 210 commander. He had problematically authorized a minor to act as an undercover agent, including leaking certain items to hostile actors.

No one views Gofman’s role in that operation positively, but there are shades of gray.

His supporters retort that just because Gofman acts decisively does not mean he does not consider his options, adding that he was exposed to the wider world of complex geopolitics as Netanyahu’s military secretary.

Furthermore, they say some spy chiefs have failed when they analyzed an issue for too long and lost a key window of opportunity to act.

A number of Mossad and CIA chiefs have told the Post that sometimes, the only way to succeed in a broader and more difficult mission is to try a number of daring moves – only some of which succeed.

If this is what Gofman was trying to do as commander of Division 210, and if he learned from the experience, maybe he will have grown in his sophistication by the time he takes the Mossad director’s chair.

Ultimately, what Gofman has going for him is a strong military record, emphatic support from the prime minister, and evidence that he has ample amounts of daring and creative talent to achieve some successes.

Whether those pluses are enough for him to overcome his lack of Mossad organizational background, less experience in the global spy field, weaker English, less experience managing an organization of this size, and a possible tendency to act too spontaneously will start playing out in June when he takes over.