Tikun Olam (blog) term. "The New York Times" published a front-page account of the story. Leibowitz denied the "New York Times" report. On his blog, he wrote, Contrary to what blogger Richard Silverstein told the NYT, my job never entailed listening to wiretaps of embassies, and that whole story was manufactured by Silverstein to promote his blog and his anti-Israel agenda. Tikun Olam reported on the arrest of prominent Israeli Palestinian political activists Ameer Makhoul and Omar Said by the Shin Bet, who accused them of spying against Israel on behalf of Hezbollah. According to Silverstein, neither detainee was permitted to consult an
Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service of the service. One tradition that was not maintained was the selection of the Chief from the ranks of the Royal Navy. Although Smith-Cumming and Sinclair both had long Navy careers, Army veteran Stewart Menzies was appointed over naval officer (and Churchill's preferred candidate) Gerard Muirhead-Gould. Plans to rotate the selection of Chief among the various branches of military service were considered, but most subsequent Chiefs have been career intelligence officers. Although the existence of the Secret Intelligence Service, much less its Chief, was not officially acknowledged until 1992, the role's reality was an open secret for many years. In