Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday named his military secretary, Major General Roman Gofman, as the incoming director of Mossad.
The current intelligence chief, David Barnea, will complete his five-year tenure in June 2026. Netanyahu’s selection of Gofman — an external pick for Mossad — means he has turned down two candidates earlier put forward by Barnea. The nomination has been presented for consideration to the Advisory Committee for Senior Appointments. Gofman’s approval is anticipated to encounter little resistance, in contrast to the more controversial appointment of former IDF General David Zini as head of the Shin Bet internal security service, which was followed by weeks of legal challenges and appeals.
Gofman was born in Belarus and immigrated to Israel with his family in 1990 when he was 14. Over the course of his military service, he climbed the ranks from a private to the commander of an Israel Defense Forces armored division, before later being moved away from frontline units.
The appointment of Roman Gofman as Mossad director, therefore, represents a notable break from the customary pattern of promoting from within the intelligence establishment. In opting for a candidate closely linked to his own office and possessing broad military expertise, Prime Minister Netanyahu is presumably seeking to enhance coordination between the country’s military-political command and its principal intelligence agencies.