Mossad's help-wanted ad brings results

TEL AVIV -- A Mossad campaign for recruits has drawn more than 1,000 applicants.

The applicants include a large number of women, Mossad sources said. They said the response to the month-long campaign was satisfactory and envisioned that only a few candidates would be seriously considered.

"The Mossad is opening up," read the advertisement published in Israeli newspapers. "Not to everybody, not to many people, but to you."

"More 1,000 candidates, including a large number of women, replied to our recruitment campaign in the press launched a month ago," said Aliza Magen, a former deputy Mossad chief who helped in the campaign. "Women have to pass all the same selection tests as men, and if they succeed that means they are of a very high calibre."

Ms. Magen said the recruits are required to help plan and carry out the "dozens of operations each day, hundreds every month, and thousands per year" by the Mossad. Applicants must be between the ages 25 and 35.

The campaign was launched to increase the dwindling pool of candidates. Mossad sources acknowledged that Israel's hi-tech industry has captured many of the best and brightest in the Jewish state.

"You have to recognize that public service does not attract young people as much as it did 30 years ago," said David Kimchi, a former Mossad number two, who like Ms. Magen, appeared on an Israeli talk show.