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Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/03/04/tech-reservists-israel-us/
Israel Has the World's Most Effective Weapon
(Washington Post) Shyam Sankar and Joab Rosenberg - Israel's defense and intelligence services are renowned for nurturing young technical talent. But their real advantage in the Gaza war is built on senior technical expertise found in the reserve units that have been called up for duty. The mix of young, raw talent combined with the wisdom and experience of an older reserve generation is an innovative model the U.S. can and should embrace. Among the 360,000 reservists called up since the Hamas attack of Oct. 7 are some of Israel's most seasoned software engineers, data scientists and data analysts. These senior reservists are spearheading explosive change in the Israeli military's technical and analytical capabilities. When Hamas' financial transactions had to be analyzed, a volunteer who works in the financial industry quickly connected the necessary dots. A senior data scientist was able to immediately handle complex data sets from media and tech sources. Skilled academics used cutting-edge AI algorithms to sift through the enormous amount of GoPro, phone and multimedia content posted by the terrorists, enabling Israel to track them and their hostages. Shyam Sankar is chief technology officer of Palantir Technologies. Joab Rosenberg is a retired colonel and reservist in Israel's defense intelligence agency.