Gil Reich to Take Over the Defence Ministry's Security Arm

The Israeli government unanimously approved the appointment of Gil Reich as head of the Defense Security Directorate at the Ministry of Defense on Tuesday 10 March 2026, according to the announcement from Jerusalem. The decision was Defence Minister Israel Katz's, and it was made on the recommendation of a search committee chaired by the ministry's director general, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Amir Baram.

Reich was serving at the time as Israel's acting national security adviser and head of the National Security Council. The announcement said he had spent three decades in a range of posts in the defence establishment, including deputy director for policy and strategy at the Israel Atomic Energy Commission and deputy head of the National Security Council. It said he would replace Brigadier General (res.) Yuval Shimoni, whom it described as having served as head of the National Security Council for the past five years.

What the Defense Security Directorate actually does

The directorate, known in Hebrew by the acronym Malmab, is one of the least visible bodies in Israel's security system. It is responsible for security across the Defence Ministry itself and the Israeli arms industries, and it oversees protection at sensitive installations including the Negev Nuclear Research Center and the Israel Institute for Biological Research, according to a reference account of the body. The same account describes its work as including security vetting and audits, corruption inquiries and the prevention of leaks of classified material, and dates its founding to 1958.

The job is therefore a counter-intelligence and industrial-security post rather than a policy one, a different discipline from the strategic advisory work Reich had been doing in the Prime Minister's Office.

The council Reich was leaving behind

The National Security Council is the body that coordinates and analyses security policy for the prime minister and the cabinet. It was created in 1999 and its role was written into law in 2008, and, unlike its counterparts in some other countries, it advises rather than decides: formal decisions rest with Israel's security cabinet, according to a reference summary of the council.

Reich took over the council in an acting capacity in October 2025, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi amid reported disagreements over the conduct of the Gaza war. The Times of Israel reported at the time that Reich, then Hanegbi's deputy, stepped up, and that he had previously been deputy director of the Atomic Energy Commission.

A post left vacant for months

The council's top job stayed unfilled on a permanent basis after Hanegbi's removal. Jewish Insider reported in late May 2026 that Reich had held the position only in an acting capacity and was moving to a different role in the defence establishment, and that the vacancy had proved hard to fill because candidates were reluctant to take a senior appointment with an election approaching.

What is still unclear

The announcement did not say when Reich would take up the new post, who would replace him at the National Security Council, or what the directorate's priorities under him would be. It also described the outgoing official, Yuval Shimoni, as head of the National Security Council for the past five years, which is a different body from the directorate Reich is taking over; the statement did not explain the discrepancy, and no clarification was issued with it.