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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Israel
Index
Military intelligence, or Aman, with an estimated staff of
7,000 personnel, produced comprehensive national intelligence
estimates for the prime minister and cabinet, daily intelligence
reports, risk of war estimates, target studies on nearby Arab
countries, and communications intercepts. Aman also conducted
across-border agent operations. Aman's Foreign Relations Department
was responsible for liaison with foreign intelligence services and
the activities of Israeli military attachés abroad. Aman was held
responsible for the failure to obtain adequate warning of the
Egyptian-Syrian attack that launched the October 1973 War. Many
indications of the attack were received but faulty assessments at
higher levels permitted major Arab gains before the IDF could
mobilize and stabilize the situation.
During preparations for the invasion of Lebanon in 1982, Aman
correctly assessed the weaknesses of the Christian militia on which
Israel was depending and correctly predicted that a clash with the
Syrian garrison in Lebanon was inevitable. The chief of
intelligence, Major General Yehoshua Saguy, made these points to
the general staff and privately to the prime minister. But,
although he was present at cabinet meetings, he failed to make his
doubts known to avoid differing openly with Begin and Sharon. Saguy
was forced to retire after the Kahan Commission found that he had
been delinquent in his duties regarding the massacres at the Sabra
and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps
(see The Siege of Beirut and its Aftermath
, this ch.)
Small air force and naval intelligence units operated as
semi-autonomous branches of Aman. Air force intelligence primarily
used aerial reconnaissance and radio intercepts to collect
information on strength levels of Arab air forces and for target
compilation. In addition to reconnaissance aircraft, pilotless
drones were used extensively to observe enemy installations. Naval
intelligence collected data on Arab and Soviet naval activities in
the Mediterranean and prepared coastal studies for naval gunfire
missions and beach assaults.
Data as of December 1988
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