When world leaders visited the United States, part of my job as a special agent with the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) was to help guarantee their protection. For the agency, that meant analyzing intelligence or conducting surveillance in preparation for the visit, as well as providing operational security during it. But our agents never worked alone. An array of other entities, from the U.S. Secret Service to local police, played roles in the complex business of ensuring a VIP's safety. Sometimes the protective detail included security services from the visitor's own country. Among the most zealous protectors of their charges I ever encountered were the agents of the Israeli Security Agency -- more commonly known as the Shin Bet.
You can bet that Shin Bet agents were hard at work on Sept. 30 when a host of luminaries from across the globe converged on Jerusalem for the funeral of one...
