A military circus

They didn't learn anything, they failed their exams, and they are now asking for a second try. One already managed to obtain an oral second try at the principal's office in an intimate atmosphere, without too many tough questions being asked. It's known as a hearing in the military.

It's hard to believe, but according to findings included in the state comptroller's report published Monday, 82 percent of all major generals, 88 percent of brigadier generals, and 76 percent of colonels were never enrolled in a national security college. These data relate to IDF officers bearing these three ranks throughout the last four years.

In other words, on average three out of every four senior officers from the rank of colonel and above - who partook in the fighting in the recent Lebanon war - didn't graduate any military college for strategy, operational theory or anything… even if just for the sake of appearances, to show some interest on the military profession.

The state comptroller also revealed that in 2003, the military had been enlightened. The military elite at the time discovered that it had no real tool to adequately select senior officers and train them to manage large operations.

Thank God, there are no wars (the Intifada is less relevant to the training of the senior command); accumulated combat experience is dwindling; training is being cut back; there are no means of ascertaining, sorting and leaving behind the mediocrity; and there'd no way of training and appointing deserving officers to the right IDF ground forces posts.

Army chief's orders ignored

The chief of staff at the time, Moshe Yaalon, set three criteria for all senior military officers up for promotion in the ground forces – known as the Distant Horizon group (Ofek Rahok). The three mandatory training courses included the National Security Studies Center at the University of Haifa, a course in operational theory, and a course called Mifne (turning point) aimed at training senior officers to command large military operations.

But what happened from the moment the chief of staff decided that these were the three prerequisites that all Ofek Rahok officers must meet? The exact opposite. These programs witnessed a continued drop in the number of officers enrolled in the courses. The operational theory course was cancelled in 2003, and an alternate course set to replace it is not in the offing.

The conclusion is that orders and commands given by an IDF chief of staff are deemed as recommendations only and are not binding. There's no need to get excited. The use of cluster bombs in civilian areas contrary to the orders of the chief of staff in the last war is just one small example. Who is he anyway? 

Inflated salaries

But what about those who did enroll in military studies? It depends on the school principal. Every two or three years a new commander takes up the post at the National Security Studies Center and changes the focus.

Subsequently, the State of Israel's security perception changes every two to three years. One graduate course has no common language with another. Colleges have no academic or advisory committees examining the study material or setting a basic mandatory curriculum.

Civilian lecturers at the National Security Studies Center are academics. However, military lecturers, says the state comptroller, do not meet the required criteria. They do not have the proper education and they have no teaching experience in national security matters on an academic level. There is in fact no criterion of what is required. Some lecturers simply arrive at the National Security Studies Center by default.

The problem with civilian lecturers is not in the quality of the teaching matter, but rather in the supervision.

Here the state comptroller revealed a series of ethical norms that are lower than sea level: Fictitious receipts, false reports, ludicrously fabricated working hours, and astronomical sums paid to outside lecturers.

In one instance, an operational theory lecturer was paid NIS 640,000 (roughly USD 130,000) Per course. The person in question is a former IDF civilian employee who acquired the knowledge of the course matter within a research paper he compiled while in the military. In total this person received NIS 3.8 million (about USD 800,000) from the army. This didn't bother anyone. The IDF's money doesn't belong to anyone anyway.

In Short, the IDF's military college, which should have been sterile, professional, and an exemplary model for students and the entire military establishment – is being conducted like a Levantine bazaar.

And there's more. The Mifne course, a course aimed at senior management, is a circus. The state comptroller's report has revealed that the IDF's senior management course, aimed at providing the military echelons with proper operational conduct, is managing its administration affairs from some café located in a hotel.

No one knows who attends the course and who doesn't. Here the students will never attempt to outsmart their lecturers. This doesn’t prevent 150 senior officers from walking around with senior management credentials, as graduates of the course. The graduates of what? And each course costs NIS 800,000 (roughly USD 180,0000.) Quite a bit of money.

This is how we went to war

But what takes the cake is the Operational Theory Research Institute. This institute has existed in various forms for the past 12 years. At first it was a research team and later a research institute. Someone there was supposed to research something, compile an operational theory, and train senior officers in an advanced operational course. Such a course, by the way, is highly relevant to the developments in the recent war in Lebanon.

So for the past 12 years, the state comptroller says, the institute has not written a single book, leaflet or glossary, so that the army would have a common language on an operational level. Nada.

The advanced operational theory course was stopped in 2003. Following negative feedback by lecturers at the National Security Studies Center, lecturers from the Operational Theory Research Institute were also no longer invited to lecture on operational theory. So what on earth did they do there?

It's embarrassing to read. These people were on private overseas trips, but reported working hours and naturally collected a salary. Employees carried out private work without authorization and reported overtime without any justification. The state comptroller described the false reporting of hours by researchers at the institution and supervision of their work as "unacceptable conduct."

It should be noted that the people in question enjoy excessive benefits, are deemed the "salt of the earth," and in awe of them the chief military prosecutor turned his head away and blushed.

Several months ago, against the backdrop of the state comptroller's examination and the investigation undertaken by the military prosecution at the institute, senior researchers completed their work and the operational theory course was reopened in a different format.

This is our showcase, this is what the most senior courses in the IDF look like, and this is how we went to war.