Mossad chief: Counterterrorism tech has made it more difficult for us to operate

Speaking at a Finance Ministry conference, the head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency says advances in counterterrorism technology have had the secondary effect of creating new challenges for international espionage.

“Countries’ struggle against global terrorism has affected us as well,” Yossi Cohen says, explaining the move by many nations to biometric passports had complicated operations. “Everywhere we go, we have to take into account the fact that security services are getting stronger.

“For normal people, this is good,” he said, according to Reuters. “For people who don’t want it so much, the matter is of course a challenge of a different order.”

He explained: “You can imagine that a large part of the agency’s problems or challenges speak to the fact that your passport is, essentially, in your fingerprint, in your retina, or in your face…This arena, which very much affects us, has changed beyond recognition and is ballooning.”