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The Evolution of Israeli Intelligence: 1973 to 2023

(JNS) Yaakov Lappin - The 1973 Yom Kippur War, its casualties, and the ability of Israel's adversaries at the time to surprise the Jewish state have left a multi-generational scar on the Israeli national psyche. In the years since, Israel has embarked on an unparalleled intelligence revolution. Today, the IDF is informed by a network of state-of-the-art sensors, with vast information-gathering capabilities in space, air, on land and at sea. The IDF employs artificial intelligence and big-data analysis to detect anomalies and shifts in enemy movements and behavior, and receives automatic alerts when these appear. The Aug. 28 announcement by the Israeli Defense Ministry regarding the progress of the Oron intelligence-gathering aircraft - the most advanced of its kind - is a case in point. Fueled by artificial intelligence, the Oron can gather intelligence on thousands of enemy targets, spanning thousands of kilometers, in a matter of seconds. Nevertheless, the potential for surprises has not been eliminated, and one of the key lessons of the 1973 war is to never assume that all of the threats are known, and never to fall victim to complacency. Adversaries evolve, and their ability to develop new ways to threaten Israel should never be trivialized. At the same time, Israel's own evolving intelligence capabilities, when mixed with its ability to deliver mass, precise firepower based on that intelligence, represent a major leap forward and reduce the chances of a catastrophic strategic surprise. The writer is a military affairs analyst at the Miryam Institute, a research associate at the Alma Research and Education Center, and a research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University.
2023-09-11 00:00:00
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