Chief of Staff Kochavi at the ceremony of receiving a token of appreciation for Unit 8200 in the Intelligence Corps/IDF Spokesman
The British "Guardian" published a story today according to which the commander of Unit 8200 accidentally revealed his identity, which is kept secret, following a book he published. The name of the commander, Yossi Shariel, also appears in the news. The Guardian discovers that Shariel published a book on "Amazon", in which his name appears only in initials, but following an embarrassing failure he left "digital traces leading to a private Google account containing his name, along with a unique ID card and links to maps and the profile's diary".
The book published by Shariel is called "The Human Machine Team". The Guardian says they have a video with several sources that Shariel is indeed the author of the book, in which he expresses a radical vision of how artificial intelligence can change the relationship between military personnel and machines. The book was published in 2021 and according to the Guardian, it outlines the model of the innovative artificial intelligence measures that Israel uses in the war in Gaza.
The book of 8200 Commander Yossi Shariel/Official website, screenshot
The "Guardian" refers to the embarrassment that should be caused by the failure that led to the disclosure of Shariel's identity "after two decades of him operating in the shadows". According to the site, "the electronic version of the book includes an anonymous email address, through which Shariel's name and Google account can easily be found." An IDF spokesman is quoted in the news as saying that this is not Shariel's personal account, but rather an account "dedicated specifically to
matters
related to the book".
The advanced measures at its disposal failed to prevent the infiltration of Hamas into Israel on October 7. According to the website, the unit was accused of "technological hubris" that came at the expense of conventional means of intelligence gathering.
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