Unit 8200

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Unit 8200 is the signal intelligence and code deciphering arm of the Israel Defence Forces. It is the largest unit in the IDF and is headquartered at at Camp Glilot, north of Tel Aviv.[1] Until recently, it was usually referred to in public as the Central Collection Unit.[2] According to Israel Hayom, Unit 8200 is the Israeli Sigint National Unit referred to in National Security Agency (NSA) documents released by Edward Snowden.[3]

History

Unit 848

Prior to 1976, the unit was known as Unit 848.[4]

Autonomy recommendation

In 2004 a Knesset committee recommended turning the unit into an autonomous entity separate from the Defense Ministry, along the lines of its US equivalent, the National Security Agency.[5]

US intelligence-sharing deal

The Israeli Sigint National Unit agreed a deal for the mutual exchange of raw signals intelligence with the US National Security Agency in 2009, according to documents released by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.[6]

Cyber-attacks

UPI reported in June 2012 that the Unit 8200 had been involved in the Stuxnet and Flame cyber-attacks:

Unit 8200 is widely seen to have been a key player in the Flame cyber attack on Iran, and some Arab states, in recent weeks.
It was also deeply involved in the ground-breaking Stuxnet malware attack on Iran's uranium enrichment program, a vital element in the quest for nuclear weapons, in 2009-10 that U.S. officials say was jointly mounted by Israel and the United States.[7]

Syria

In August 2013, the German Focus website claimed that Unit 8200 had intercepted communications which showed that the Syrian regime was responsible for poison gas attacks near Damascus.[8][9]

Tech sector alumni

A Forbes article by Former Unit 8200 member Gil Kerbs, stated that "Israel's high-tech world is "flooded" with Unit alumni, as entrepreneurs and company founders or junior and senior executives.":

"Take Nice, Comverse and Check Point for example, three of the largest high-tech companies, which were all directly influenced by 8200 technology," says [former Unit 8200 commander Hanan] Gefen. "Check Point was founded by Unit alumni. Comverse's main product, the Logger, is based on the Unit's technology. Look at Metacafe, one of the hottest companies today. Eyal Herzog, one of the founders, is also an 8200 alumnus and he accumulated a huge amount of relevant experience in the Unit."[10]

Author James Bamford and former CIA officer Philip Giraldi have suggested that the role of Unit 8200 veterans in the telecommunications industry is a threat to US national security.[11]

A US diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks in 2011, highlighted the role of former Unit 8200 personnel in Hazard Threat Analysis, Ltd. (HTA), a private company specializing in internet-based counter-terrorism (CT) intelligence gathering.[12]

People and Structure

Commanders of Unit 848

Masrega

Masrega was a Cold War-era unit within Unit 848 focused on the Soviet Union.[14]

Commanders of Unit 8200

Unit Hatzav

Unit Hatzav is the open source intelligence unit within Unit 8200. It is responsible for obtaining intelligence and counterintelligence from television, radio, newspapers, and the Internet.[19] Hatzav produced a daily summary of the Arab press which is distributed to intelligence desks and decision makers.[20]

The unit was re-organised in 2007, according to Haaretz:

In 2007 Hatzav was split up, with some members assigned to each Unit 8200 division that deals with a specific country or with the Palestinian Authority. It was meant to increase cooperation between the departments monitoring different sources of information, but has instead reduced Israel's intelligence capabilities, according to the sources. They said that over the past two years, the commanders of Hatzav and of Unit 8200 have been attempting to improve Hatzav, with limited success.[21]

With the onset of the Arab Spring in 2011, a decision was taken to increase military intelligence coverage of Arabic language social media. According to Israeli government sources quoted by Haaretz, this forced a reduction in resources devoted to mainstream media such as television broadcasts. As a result, the government increasingly relied on two right-wing private organisations, MEMRI and Palestinian Media Watch for coverage of anti-Israeli material in the Arab media. Government officials had reportedly complained about the situation to the head of military intelligence, Aviv Kochavi. In a response to Haaretz, the IDF insisted it was monitoring Arab media "24 hours a day, every day of the week, in a wide variety of fields, including the Palestinian field".[21]

External Resources

Notes

  1. ↑ Amos Harel, Mystery surrounds suicide of officer from elite intel unit, Haaretz, 5 June 2009.
  2. ↑ Stacy Perman, Spies Inc. Business Innovation from Israel's Masters of Espionage, Pearson Education, 2005, p.12.
  3. ↑ Report: NSA routinely shares raw intelligence with Israel, Israel Hayom, 12 September 2013.
  4. ↑ Ephraim Kahana, Historical Dictionary of Israeli Intelligence, Scarecrow Press, 2006, p.43.
  5. ↑ Amos Harel, Mystery surrounds suicide of officer from elite intel unit, Haaretz, 5 June 2009.
  6. ↑ Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Ewen MacAskill, NSA shares raw intelligence including Americans' data with Israel, Guardian, 11 September 2013.
  7. ↑ Unit 8200 and Israel's high-tech whiz kids, upi.com, 4 June 2012.
  8. ↑ Bundeskanzlerin im FOCUS-InterviewGiftgasmassaker in Syrien: Merkel fordert Zugang für UN-Inspekteure, Focus, 24 August 2013.
  9. ↑ Adiv Sterman, ‘IDF intercepted Syrian regime chatter on chemical attack’, The Times of Israel, 26 August 2013.
  10. ↑ Gil Kerbs, The Unit, Forbes, 8 February 2007.
  11. ↑ Christopher Ketcham, Full-Spectrum Penetration: Israeli Spying in the United States, 12 March 2009.
  12. ↑ Private Israeli Company Collects Counter-terrorism Intelligence, Wikileaks, 1 September 2011.
  13. ↑ Ephraim Kahana, Historical Dictionary of Israeli Intelligence, Scarecrow Press, 2006, p.43.
  14. ↑ Dima P. Adamsky, American and Israeli Intelligence Failure, in Nigel John Ashton, ed., The Cold War in the Middle East: Regional Conflict and the Superpowers, 1967-73, Routledge, 2007, p.124.
  15. ↑ Dima P. Adamsky, American and Israeli Intelligence Failure, in Nigel John Ashton, ed., The Cold War in the Middle East: Regional Conflict and the Superpowers, 1967-73, Routledge, 2007, p.130.
  16. ↑ Seymour M. Hersh, The Samson Option: Israel, America and the Bomb, Faber and Faber, 1993, p.293.
  17. ↑ Stacy Perman, Spies Inc. Business Innovation from Israel's Masters of Espionage, Pearson Education, 2005, p.76.
  18. ↑ Stacy Perman, Spies Inc. Business Innovation from Israel's Masters of Espionage, Pearson Education, 2005, p.97.
  19. ↑ Cnaan Lipshitz, Native English speakers have lost exclusive status with IDF Intelligence, Haaretz, 17 July 2012.
  20. ↑ Ron Schleifer, Psychological Warfare in the Intifada: Israeli And Palestinian Media Politics And Military Strategies, Sussex Academic Press, 2005, p.5.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Barak Ravid, Officials: Israel outsources monitoring of Palestinian media after IDF lapse, Haaretz, 31 January 2012.
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