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^{[by whom?]} 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[]

Name	Tenure	Notes
Lt. Colonel	1948–1957	Did not serve in 1954–55^{[citation needed]}
Maj. General Chaim Ben-David	1957–1963
Brig. General	1963–1974
Brig. General	1974–1981
Brig. General	1981–1993
Maj. General Danny Yatom	1993–1996
Maj. General	1996–1997
Maj. General Gadi Eisenkot	1999–2001
Maj. General Moshe Kaplinsky	2001–2002
Maj. General Yoav Galant	2002–2005
Maj. General Gadi Shamni	2005–2007
Maj. General	2007–2009
Maj. General	2010–2012	^[2]
Maj. General Eyal Zamir	2012–2015
Brigadier General Eliezer Toledano [1]	2015–2018
Brigadier General Avi Blut^[3]	2018–	Incumbent

References[]

^ Haviv Rettig Gur (6 January 2014). "Inside Israel's White House: How Netanyahu runs the country". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
^ IAF Brig.-Gen. Yohanan Locker announced as PM's new military secretary^{[permanent dead link]}, Jerusalem Post, 24 December 2009
^ Anna Ahronheim, Netanyahu appoints Col. Avi Blot as new military secretary, The Jerusalem Post, July 17, 2018.

[Gur-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^{[permanent dead link]}, Jerusalem Post, 24 December 2009

[3] Anna Ahronheim, Netanyahu appoints Col. Avi Blot as new military secretary, The Jerusalem Post, July 17, 2018.

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