Prime Minister Ehud Olmert intends to gradually and slowly implement organizational changes recommended by a Winograd Committee subcommittee on the Second Lebanon War, government sources in Jerusalem said. The announcement came ahead of the presentation Wednesday to the Winograd Committee of the recommendations of the Shahak Committee.

"The prime minister will not hastily destroy the existing structure," a source said, adding that finding the right people could take "many months."

As first published in Haaretz last week, the Shahak Committee is to recommend strengthening the position of the National Security Council (NSC) in the Prime Minister's Office, and placing it at the center of the political, security and intelligence decision-making process.

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The committee is also to recommend increasing the size of the NSC, and that it take on several of the functions now carried out by the prime minister's chief of staff and other senior advisors. The NSC head will be a political appointment, to ensure the control of the political echelon over decision-making. A senior Foreign Ministry staffer will also be party to security establishment evaluations.