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Considering all the details about their own operations that were leaked, I bet they wish they had spent more time to get it perfect. It's not like Israel is in

Considering all the details about their own operations that were leaked, I bet they wish they had spent more time to get it perfect. It's not like Israel is incapable of perfect assassinations. It's just a question of dedicating enough resources - time, money, manpower. This has not only exposed agents and caused a diplomatic mess, it has exposed operational details: - the hacking of hotels - the use of disguises and surveillance teams - the tempo at which is it conducted - pattern of movements - division of labour - use of unknown poisons - the austrian switchboard Mossad will have to tweak all of these elements now in order to retain obfuscation.

praptak 16y ago
I suspect that they have to constantly tweak those anyway. They do not have any guarantee that the opponent hasn't got the patterns even if the mission had no obvious failures. The Dubai could as well have kept this under the rug, hoping to trap the agents on their next mission.
burgerbrain 16y ago
People saying that Mossad messed up by getting caught on camera never really made sense to me. They clearly knew they were going to be on camera, and they had to have known that that footage would be reviewed in the future. Since they knew they were going to be on camera but did it anyway, it pretty clearly was a risk they calculated and decided was an acceptable payoff. Currently it looks like nearly 30 people were directly involved, and authorities have nothing to show for it but the arrest of an accomplice or two, and month old rumors of another single arrest. They might have pictures of the people involved, but it hasn't helped them actually do anything about it. As for political fallout... what political fallout? They got some bad press on the evening news but do you think they actually give a damn about that? Other countries sent a political message scolded them for using fake passports, and they sent a pretty clear political message: that they are willing to kill anyone they don't like, and no amount of cameras will stop them. I really have a hard time seeing the people who planned this doing anything other than patting themselves on the back for a job well done.
- wyclif 16y ago
  Oh, I totally agree-- this was the point of my earlier comment about it being tactically "good enough" but not perfect. There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that they knew all about the CCTV coverage in the hotel. I also think you're spot on about the blowback on the British passports. It was all calculated risk. In general, the article underestimates the technical savvy of Mossad-- see Stuxnet.
  - varjag 16y ago
    Going to take a dive here from Mossad fanboys, but Stuxnet can just as well (if not more likely) be a U.S. product, precisely due to its technical sophistication.
    - SoftwareMaven 16y ago
      More likely a combination of both: Mossad for the details of what is inside Iran's program and deploying the worm, and the US for the technical skills to build it.
      - CapitalistCartr 16y ago
        Israeli software skills are excellent. Of all the assets the US could provide, that's one Israel doesn't need and likely wouldn't accept. The US could provide electronic surveillance: locations of people, details of local police operations, satellite photos, etc.
        varjag 16y ago
        While technically it can be done by anyone in the world, it takes certain thriving technology culture to ensure that enough smart people penetrate the ranks of employees in government bureaucracies. Israel's overall IT scene is non-remarkable, not any more than one of Sweden or Greece. The USA on the other hand, has decades-long successful track record of industrial sabotage involving computers, and NSA alone probably employs more talent than Mossad could ever afford to.

praptak 16y ago

I suspect that they have to constantly tweak those anyway. They do not have any guarantee that the opponent hasn't got the patterns even if the mission had no obvious failures. The Dubai could as well have kept this under the rug, hoping to trap the agents on their next mission.

burgerbrain 16y ago

People saying that Mossad messed up by getting caught on camera never really made sense to me. They clearly knew they were going to be on camera, and they had to have known that that footage would be reviewed in the future. Since they knew they were going to be on camera but did it anyway, it pretty clearly was a risk they calculated and decided was an acceptable payoff. Currently it looks like nearly 30 people were directly involved, and authorities have nothing to show for it but the arrest of an accomplice or two, and month old rumors of another single arrest. They might have pictures of the people involved, but it hasn't helped them actually do anything about it. As for political fallout... what political fallout? They got some bad press on the evening news but do you think they actually give a damn about that? Other countries sent a political message scolded them for using fake passports, and they sent a pretty clear political message: that they are willing to kill anyone they don't like, and no amount of cameras will stop them. I really have a hard time seeing the people who planned this doing anything other than patting themselves on the back for a job well done.

wyclif 16y ago
Oh, I totally agree-- this was the point of my earlier comment about it being tactically "good enough" but not perfect. There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that they knew all about the CCTV coverage in the hotel. I also think you're spot on about the blowback on the British passports. It was all calculated risk. In general, the article underestimates the technical savvy of Mossad-- see Stuxnet.
- varjag 16y ago
  Going to take a dive here from Mossad fanboys, but Stuxnet can just as well (if not more likely) be a U.S. product, precisely due to its technical sophistication.
  - SoftwareMaven 16y ago
    More likely a combination of both: Mossad for the details of what is inside Iran's program and deploying the worm, and the US for the technical skills to build it.
    - CapitalistCartr 16y ago
      Israeli software skills are excellent. Of all the assets the US could provide, that's one Israel doesn't need and likely wouldn't accept. The US could provide electronic surveillance: locations of people, details of local police operations, satellite photos, etc.
      - varjag 16y ago
        While technically it can be done by anyone in the world, it takes certain thriving technology culture to ensure that enough smart people penetrate the ranks of employees in government bureaucracies. Israel's overall IT scene is non-remarkable, not any more than one of Sweden or Greece. The USA on the other hand, has decades-long successful track record of industrial sabotage involving computers, and NSA alone probably employs more talent than Mossad could ever afford to.