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Civilian Intelligence | Israel today

2020-09-12T13:40:59.698Z


With the outbreak of the virus, the unit realized that they were not looking at this crisis from the side. • A look at the technological system that does not operate on weekdays | Israel this week - a political supplement


When the spread of the corona began in Israel, Unit 8200 realized that they were not looking away from this crisis. • Unit officials provide a look at the technological system they operated in places they do not touch on weekdays. • Secret of the epidemic: This is how the unit fights the virus

  • "Everyone benefits - those who receive assistance and so do our soldiers."

    8200 people during the Corona crisis

    Photo: 

    Joshua Joseph

A month and a half ago, Unit 8200 opened the emergency procedures written for the war, and activated them on the corona crisis.

The headquarters and bases were kept to a minimum.

People were sent home or to remote bases.

Those who remained, moved to work shifts.

What is operational and urgent continued to operate under extreme control and security.

Less essential projects - rejected.

This effort was successful.

The 8200 functioned fully even during the crisis.

On Sunday the unit will return to routine, to life on the corona side.

Conditions will still be maintained that will minimize the risk of widespread infection and strict procedures will be adopted - but certainly a sedative siren.

When the epidemic broke out, the 8200 did not have the privilege of closing its offices and going to the IDF. The enemies, the operations, the projects - all of these did not stop. On the contrary; And tried to secretly promote various interests, as evidenced by the foreign publications that attribute to Israel a series of attacks in recent days against Iranian targets in Syria.

This obliges the 8200 to maintain full activity, but under different conditions.

As in the entire IDF, the two main tasks were to maintain national security and to maintain the security of the forces, that is, their health. No risk was taken: neither for activity, nor for people.

About a week after the crisis broke out, the 8200 realized that there was no way they were just dealing with their own and looking at the corona from the side.

Unit officials told themselves that with the rare capabilities there are, they can (and should) give more, beyond the operational missions.

"Contribute to the national effort," defines a senior member of the unit.

Very quickly, the unit marked three axes in which it has a relative advantage: vis-à-vis the Ministry of Health, vis-à-vis the Home Front Command and vis-à-vis the Ministry of Education.

They are now giving "Israel this week" a first look at the unit's activities during the corona crisis.

"We did it in addition to our regular work," they clarify.

"State security has not been harmed for a moment."

The suspicion disappeared immediately

The main task that 8200 took on was to support the Ministry of Health in everything related to the worlds of technology and digital.

Take care of infrastructure, systems, information.

To take a heavy, old-fashioned, low-budget government office and move it to a world where 8200 lives — at the pinnacle of 21st-century technological capabilities.

This is done modestly, without publications or noises in the media.

Far from all the controversy over the transfer of responsibility from the Ministry of Health to the Ministry of Defense.

8200 simply showed up at the Ministry of Health in Jerusalem to work.

"We were called on Saturday, and we arrived immediately," says Col. S., commander of one of the units in the unit and who is leading the effort with the Ministry of Health.

New infrastructure.

Home Front Command soldiers distributing food // Photo: Coco

The main idea was to allow the Ministry of Health to control information and data.

To do in the world of medicine what the 8200 do in the worlds of intelligence.

Receive the information from all sources - from the hospitals, MDA and the health funds - arrange it ("melt" in the professional language) and extract insights from it.

"This is a complex challenge, and it was clear that as a condition we must first control the data," says Major E., head of the unit. "We built a system that will allow a grip on the test system, from the moment the citizen is examined until we have a clear answer. Will not be dropped. "

About 50 of the 8200 people have been allocated for this project.

Most of them worked from home.

This is a historic event in the unit, which has always erected an impenetrable wall when it comes to removing work (and information and capabilities) from the bases.

"This is a real cultural change," says E.

"We are not used to working in the cloud, and certainly not from home. I guess we will take some of the things with us further, for example the ability we have adapted to work in remote groups or bring information to us without endangering it."

One of the things the unit learned during its work with the Ministry of Health is that medical information is no less sensitive than intelligence information.

What is different is the need: in intelligence everything is urgent, in the worlds of health a little less.

Or at least that was the case with the Corona crisis.

"Normally it is enough for me to receive information with a delay of three months because I am a total regulator," says Maurice Dorfman, Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Health and who is responsible for computing and digital health at the ministry. given moment".

This requires the Ministry of Health to move from quarterly updated information, to ongoing control of information and full availability.

Dorfman realized that there was only one factor in Israel that could do that, and the connection was made.

"A young officer from 8200 showed up at my place, heard us, and after three minutes started bombarding with questions. For two days my people were still suspicious of her, but then they started asking her to come."

Dorfman is full of admiration for the help he received: "I have never encountered such a thing. They came modestly, without posing and without thinking that they are better than others, even though they are the best in the world. The work that 8200 does here is about the only reason I do not want the corona finished, It has brought us people and qualities of quality that there is no chance in the world that they would come to government offices. "

Each box has an address

The second mission of the 8200 is in the Home Front Command.

Up to Corona, the unit worked closely with the three spatial commands (North, Central and South), but never with the Home Front Command.

Since the beginning of the crisis, it has assigned hundreds of people to it: there is almost no activity in which the Home Front Command is involved - from nursing homes and hotels to logistics - that has not required a technological set-up that can make decisions based on reliable and available information.

"I know all the commanders-in-chief closely, but I have never met the commander of the Home Front Command, because there was no need," says Col. A., another center commander in the unit and who is leading this effort. "It was a completely new organization, in which we were formed. New infrastructure almost from scratch. "

For the purpose of the mission, the unit assigned about 300 soldiers.

Here, too, most of them work from home.

"We have established the infrastructure that enables the National Information Command to work," says Lt. Col. Y., head of the algorithmics division at the unit's headquarters.

"We worked on it four days in a row, morning and night, to get this system up and running."

The idea was to establish a center that would unite all the national rescue agencies: from the Ministries of Defense, Health, Interior and Finance, through the local authorities and the HMOs, to the various rescue agencies.

The problem was that each of them comes with an information infrastructure and its own way of working.

The 8200 people created for them the platform that allows, at the edge, to drain all the problems to one table, and give them a solution.

At the same time, systems were established that made it possible to manage the operation of the hotels or the care of the older populations (the "Golden Guards" project).

"It's a lot more complicated than it sounds, because you have to make sure nothing falls in the way," Y. explains.

"If you want to distribute food to thousands of elderly people a day, you need an infrastructure that allows you to control information: from control systems for vehicles and quantities of food, to the app with which the soldier physically walks in the field, so he knows which house to go to, who lives in it and what he should get."

Captain Y. serves as an engineer in the unit, and was called upon to participate in another effort - making the information accessible to the 98th Division, which was sent at the height of the crisis to help the citizens of Bnei Brak.

"The idea was to arrange the information for them and make it accessible to them," he says.

"We reached the division and started from scratch. This is one of the most amazing experiences I have had in the military, because I was able to help the country in such a crisis."

Colonel A., Deputy Commander of 8200 Digital (there is also an operational deputy in the unit), led the assistance to the Ministry of Education. "We understand that learning has stopped operating in its normal format, and many challenges are expected against the background of the transition to online learning. We have great people, we contacted the Ministry of Education and put ourselves at their disposal. "

At the end of an expedited process of joint thinking, the main weakness was identified: preparation for the matriculation exams.

"We work with about 1,200 teachers, and they attach us to students who need assistance," says Major E., who in her regular role is responsible for extracting the information at the unit's headquarters.

The emphasis is on the core professions.

Mostly exact sciences, computers and English.

The assistance was pre-defined as being given in the periphery, thinking that the students there needed more help.

This move corresponds with another project involving 8200 in recent years, "Fulfill", an excellence program for computer and cyber studies, which is a significant site for soldiers per unit and also gives significant weight to the periphery.

Within the programs, special emphasis is placed on girls, in an attempt to increase the number of female soldiers who will come to the unit in the future;

It turns out that while the intelligence professions in the 8200 have a female majority, the computer professions have a distinctly masculine advantage.

The reason: A lot more boys are going to study computers and science in high school.

The future outcome (which 8200 is trying to change): professional gaps between men and women - and consequently earnings gaps - in the high-tech and technology worlds.

"We teach thousands of students, some individually and some in small groups," says E.

The study is done in Zoom or WhatsApp, with the soldiers receiving the curriculum from the teachers and informing them of the students' progress.

Possibility to do good

Ruth Sofer (16) from the locality of Tefahot is a tenth grade student in Tiberias.

She joined a physics class of students a year older than her this year, and considered not attending matriculation because she found herself significantly behind in the material.

"The teacher told me there was a 8200 plan, so I told myself I had nothing to lose," she says.

"We study some girls with a guy named Eviatar. The teacher teaches us the material, and he practices us and answers our questions."

The feedback from the students is excellent, and "parents are already contacting us to thank them," says E.

According to her, this program - which began within the unit - now also includes soldiers-

Mentors from other units in the IDF, who heard about the idea and asked to join and help. "We will continue with this until the summer.

Even though we are returning to full activity, we will not stop. "

This activity also led to another venture involving soldiers from the unit: digital assistance to the elderly.

"We immediately realized that this is a population that is afraid of the digital world and has difficulty adapting to it," says Major A., ​​who is leading the project. "We put our soldier, a volunteer, in front of every elderly person, and he helps him."

Here too - the feedback is excellent.

"We have very talented soldiers, and that also gives them the opportunity to volunteer and do good," says Major E. "I'm not sure who earns more: our students or soldiers."

Assistance to the Ministries of Health, the Home Front Command and the Ministry of Education will continue in the future;

For high school students until after high school, and for government officials until the crisis is over or at least until they are able to act independently.

"We could shut ourselves in and take care of only our work, and no one would tell us anything, but it would not seem right to us to sit on the sidelines," says a senior member of the unit.

"It allowed us not only to assist the economy in an emergency but also gave every soldier with us an opportunity to do something meaningful that is beyond, something he will remember even after his service."

And that, it seems, is the heart of the matter.

The Corona was not the responsibility of the IDF, but it volunteered and put all its capabilities to the benefit of the national challenge. 8200 - which is routinely the best habitat of its kind in the world for technology, and the basis for Israel becoming a start-up nation The enemy, and turned them into opportunities on our "blue" side.

Those responsible for this are members of the unit, who are often attacked for being spoiled and potentially millionaires.

All the speakers in the article have a variety of offers and opportunities in citizenship, along with sums and benefits that are several times greater than those they receive in the IDF. They remain not because of the budgetary pension, but mainly because of interest and Zionism. It will probably not change, and 8200 is involved in the operational worlds above and beyond all imagination) and Zionism is still here too. But whoever thinks that the IDF - and Unit 8200 in general - can absorb an infinite number of blows, economic and otherwise, without being harmed is wrong.

The 8200 has one huge advantage: it enlists the best in Israeli youth, at an age when they are energetic, sharp and fearless.

But in order for it to remain a diamond and continue to be the engine of the entire Israeli technology world, it needs a strong, stable and secure army behind it.

Point to think about just before a government is formed, and the budget wars begin.

Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2020-09-12

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