by Uzi Eilam
The Talpiot Program
Any chapter on MAFAT would be incomplete without mentioning the most important component of scientific and technological research — the people. Without a doubt, one of the most prominent achievements of MAFAT is the Talpiot program. The program was established after the Yom Kippur War, which had a destabilizing effect on all Israelis involved in the military and defense, and prompted a process of checking and rechecking our aims and understandings. This process often involved seeking out new approaches in all areas of concern. Two professors from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Felix Dothan and Shaul Yatziv, came up with a new and innovative way to cultivate high-quality human resources trained in science and technology for the IDF and the Israeli defense establishment. In 1979, after many discussions and consultations on the subject, the two professors submitted a detailed document to CGS Rafael Eitan, which read as follows:
....he proposal described here is the summary of thoughts and ideas we first had a few years ago that became more developed after the Yom Kippur War. Concern for the future of the country in general and the desire to do everything possible to minimize the number of Israeli casualties in future wars has inspired us to submit the proposal in writing. It is based on three points of departure that are not reflected in any of the country’s research and development institutes: firm recognition of the fact that the state of Israel must make an effort to develop weapons that are as modern and innovative as possible and that are not unknown to other countries; that in order to achieve this goal, we must make planned utilization of creative human faculties, which are at their height at a young biological age, when people are in their twenties; and that the ability to invent requires creative imagination, great knowledge, and an intensive approach, which can be encouraged by posing challenges and creating a lively and inspiring atmosphere in which every practical effort and contribution receives recognition and encouragement. As one way of achieving this goal, we propose an intensive and systematic effort to invent and develop effective new weapons, “new” in this case meaning that it is not used by other armies, even those of the superpowers. The core of the program must be made up of extremely talented and dedicated individuals who also have a suitable background in the natural sciences and weapons technologies.
Eitan was convinced and approved the program, which, within just a few years, took shape and began training exceptional high-school graduates for service within the research and development facilities of the Israeli military. Overall oversight of the program, including budgetary responsibility, was assigned to the R&D Unit, which was soon incorporated into MAFAT. The Hebrew University in Jerusalem agreed to provide the program with space on its Givat Ram Campus. There, a military base was constructed especially for the Talpiot students, complete with dormitories and classrooms.
When I first arrived at MAFAT in early 1986, the program curriculum was already in place, with mathematics, physics, and computer theory constituting its primary foundation. We initially limited acceptance to 25 young male and female students each year, but the number later rose to 50. The entire training program, including its military components, was ambitious and impressive. Within three years the students had to complete the requirements for their Bachelors degree, to complete courses in squad commanders training and officers training, and to get an idea of air, naval, and ground warfare through other special training programs. I was impressed by the motivation of the students and by the team spirit and unit pride that the dedicated program commanders inculcated in them. We needed to appoint class officers and commanders for the program, and we decided to use Talpiot graduates for this purpose as soon as possible. This process was institutionalized within a few years, and today’s Talpiot commanders and class officers, who implement all the courses and function as elder siblings and tutors, are program graduates.
From the outset the aim of the program was clearly not just to train the participants to be good researchers. Emphasis was also placed on combining technical knowledge with a deep understanding of operational needs. We worked to overcome obstacles which we thought could prevent students from fitting in and contributing from the moment they were assigned to units. During the first years of the program, fear of the Talpiot students was widespread within the IDF. The concern was that they would be too independent and would outshine their commanders. It took a great deal of patience and persuasion to bring about the Talpiot students’ integration into the corps. Integration was relatively smooth within the air force, the navy, and the intelligence corps, but was more difficult within the ground forces.
For many years the program was flexible and willing to implement changes based on lessons learned along the way. Lessons were learned at all levels, including the selection and training process and graduates’ service within the IDF. Hard work was ongoing in a number of areas: the academic work, which required maintaining a high level of instruction; effective management of the program and the military–civilian campus; and student motivation and team work. Important work also had to be done outside the classroom to ensure the program’s present and future existence. Institutional and bureaucratic systems find it difficult to contend with exceptions, and Talpiot was one of the most exceptional programs in the IDF. Ten years after the program’s establishment, it was still fighting for its life. It was sometimes even necessary to meet with the Adjutant General Branch chief himself in order to make sure that steps would not be taken that would harm the young program.
As part the need to improve the program, we came up with a special track consisting of a few years of service in command positions within combat units followed by a return to positions in the field of research and development. The model we adopted was somewhat similar to my own experience, and combined command positions in combat units and administrative units in the realm of R&D. Not all of the students in the Talpiot program possessed the characteristics necessary to succeed in command positions in combat units, but some students did complete this track successfully in the field corps, the navy, and the air force. Brigadier General Ofir Shoham, who completed the naval officers’ training course and reached the position of missile boat commander, is a good example of one of these students. Shoham subsequently returned to the realm of R&D and rose through the ranks until he reached the rank of brigadier general. Today, he is serving as the director of MAFAT — the highest position in the field of defense R&D.
During my time at MAFAT I kept a soft place in my heart for the Talpiot program. I maintained regular contact with participants by lecturing in their classes, speaking with students, listening to student presentations of development projects as exercises throughout their studies, and holding a discussion with each class just before the end of the period of service, aimed at convincing them to continue their service. The more Israel’s high-tech industries grew, the greater the temptation for Talpiot graduates to return to civilian life quickly and not to extend their service. Nonetheless, over the past quarter of a century the program has created a sizable critical mass of high quality human resources within the IDF and the defense establishment, leaving no doubt regarding its contribution to the long-term security of Israel.
13
On Sabbatical at the French Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS)
My Final Days at MAFAT
Although I found the job of director of MAFAT interesting, challenging, personally satisfying and critically important to Israeli national interests it was never my intention to continue in the post for the twelve years that I did. Certainly, I was happy to have another opportunity to work with Yitzhak Rabin as prime minister and defense minister beginning in 1992. As usual, he gave me the feeling that his door was open to me and that he was always willing to give my ideas serious consideration. When I voiced my opinions during the meetings he convened on major development-related issues, I always felt like I was being listened to. Rabin dedicated a great deal of time to his responsibilities as defense minister, and to us at MAFAT it
seemed that he enjoyed this job much more than the job of prime minister.
Although I first began thinking about leaving MAFAT after six years on the job, such thoughts were typically overshadowed by the sheer magnitude of the tasks at hand and my feeling that I could not just abandon my position for no good reason. It was only in 1995 that I began to feel comfortable with the idea of planning my departure. The Homa missile defense program was already well established and had a series of successful tests of the Arrow missile under its belt. The satellite program had entered space with astounding success, and Ofek was already in orbit, producing and transmitting high-quality satellite photographs. The IDF had also finally recognized the importance of the project and was enjoying its products, which continued to stream in. Project Nautilus, the program for developing high-power lasers to shoot down Katyusha rockets, had proven its ability to destroy Katyushas in mid-flight. As a result, a Project Nautilus Administration was established at MAFAT and, in the face of Congressional decision on the issue, the US military was forced to assign teams and allocate funding to the project.
I requested a private meeting with Prime Minister Rabin to inform him of my intentions and to seek his advice in deciding on a new post. I had actually started to take interest in the position of chairman of the Israel Electric Corporation, which was vacant at the time, and I anxiously awaited our meeting, scheduled for Monday, November 6, to discuss the issue. But business as usual for me and the rest of the country came to an awful halt when Prime Minister Rabin was tragically assassinated on the evening of Saturday, November 4. I was devastated. Words cannot describe the feelings of shock, disappointment, indignation, and helplessness Israelis experienced that night, and in the weeks and months that followed. It took me another year to be ready to continue planning my departure from MAFAT, now with a new defense minister, Yitzhak Mordechai, and a new director-general, Ilan Biran.
The most important task was to find a replacement. Of all the options considered, the most suitable candidate was R&D Unit Director Brigadier General Itzik Ben-Israel, who had been working under my direction at MAFAT for four years. Ben-Israel sought promotion to the rank of major general, which meant that CGS Shaul Mofaz and Defense Minister Mordechai had to be persuaded to recommend giving the director of MAFAT the rank of major general on a personal basis without creating a precedent that would attach this rank to future directors of MAFAT. Ultimately, it was decided to provide Ben-Israel with a temporary rank of major general for a three-month transitional period, after which he would be discharged from the military and become a major general in the IDF reserves. When all the parties involved finally reached an agreement, the tight schedule according to which Ben-Israel needed to begin functioning as director of MAFAT and the special arrangement regarding his rank left us no time to lose.
The defense ministry proposed that I assume leadership of its Paris-based delegation to Europe in the summer of 1998, and I agreed. At that point, I suggested what to me sounded like an ideal solution: vacating my position as soon as possible and spending the time that remained on sabbatical in France. Professor Baruch Raz, scientific advisor at the Israeli embassy in Paris, provided me with energetic assistance in exploring the possibilities, and he soon summoned me to France for a meeting. I knew that my old friend General Paul-Ivan de Saint-Germain was the current director of FRS — the French Foundation for Strategic Research — which was linked to the French ministry of defense. This French think-tank was based outside Paris on the campus of École Polytechnique, the renowned state school of engineering that has trained generations of engineers and directors for service in the French military, the French defense ministry, and the French defense industry. General de Saint-Germain, a graduate of the École Polytechnique with extensive experience in directing defense technology development for the French defense establishment, had recently been appointed to head FRS.
Before I left Israel for my meeting in Paris, Raz informed me that FRS was interested in undertaking research on non-conventional terrorism and would be delighted to have me lead the project. At the time, Western countries, including Israel, did not dare to broach this subject openly, and instead limited themselves to classified assessments carried out by intelligence research bodies. I set a meeting with Shabtai Shavit, former director of the Mossad and chairman of the recently established Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya. A young doctoral candidate named Boaz Ganor, who had been charged with the task of setting up the Institute at the IDC, took part in the meeting, during which I proposed carrying out a joint study on non-conventional terrorism under the auspices of three different research centers. I also discussed the plan with Dr. Yair Sharan, director of Tel Aviv University’s Interdisciplinary Center for Technological Analysis and Forecasting, who was also eager to take part. I hoped that MAFAT would agree to allocate the relatively small sum required to fund the work at the two research centers in Israel, and it ultimately did. I intended proposing to the French that each partner bear the expense of the work done under its auspices, and I prepared a project outline that was received enthusiastically by Shavit and Ganor at IDC and by Sharan at Tel Aviv University. With a sizable dowry, I was now ready for my meeting at FRS.
Leaving MAFAT
There were still two more things I needed to do before leaving for Paris. The first was to remove my personal papers and belongings from my office, and the second was to take my leave from the defense minister and the director-general. I knew that the large safe in my office held dozens of files that had accumulated in the course of my service with the IDF, the Israel Atomic Energy Commission and MAFAT. However, I really had no appreciation for how much written material there actually was. The Israel Defense Forces and Defense Establishment Archive were willing to provide space to store my personal documents, and without the dedicated assistance of the secretaries in my office, I would have never been able to sort through all the documents and organize them by subject and chronological order. The most valuable find was a few thick notebooks containing chapters of a personal journal I had written at critical junctures during my career over the years. It was all packed up in cardboard boxes and sent to the archive for safe keeping.
My meeting with Defense Minister Mordechai took place in his office at the defense ministry at the Kirya government campus in Tel Aviv. As I walked into the office I knew so well my ears rung with the echoes of the past. I could hear Moshe Dayan ruling on the dispute between the IDF and the defense ministry, which ultimately resulted in the establishment of the R&D Unit. I could hear Shimon Peres authorizing submission of the Treasure list to the Americans after the Yom Kippur War. I could hear Defense Minister Ezer Weizman resolving to launch the Lavi fighter jet program in his characteristically determined and decisive manner. And I could hear Defense Minister Moshe Arens, with his heavy American accent, approving the complete missile defense program. I remembered the feelings of disappointment and uneasiness I felt when telling Defense Minister Rabin of the failed Arrow missile and satellite launchings, as well as my joy and elation upon reporting the success of the Ofek launch. Defense Minister Mordechai was friendly and upbeat as he offered me his gratitude and wished me success, and my meeting with Director-General Biran was also quite positive.
I was determined to prove to the minister, the director-general, and myself that there were new things to do with the defense ministry delegation to Europe. I was also aware that the research project I would be leading at FRS during my sabbatical was something I had never done before. With these two tasks before me, I knew that an interesting and challenging period lay ahead.
General de Saint-Germain and FRS in Paris
Raz and I made our way to the French Foundation for Strategic Research, which was housed in a modern, practical building on the grounds of the École Polytechnique. The building offered a vivid example of modern French construction, which was decisively different from the traditional grand walled palaces that h
oused government ministries and other national institutions. When we arrived, General de Saint-Germain and his colleagues were seated around a conference table, and I was already able to speak freely in French albeit to a limited degree.
The discussion quickly took a goal-oriented direction, and I presented the FRS leadership with the proposed chapters for the final report to be submitted at the conclusion of the study. I was aware that they had funding for their work, but I reassured them by telling them that the Israeli portion of the project, to be carried out at the IDC and Tel Aviv University, would be funded by the Israeli defense ministry. The proposal was accepted without comment, and few hours later I was already meeting with Dr. Jean-François Daguzan, who had been charged with heading the French research team, Dr. Gérard Chaliand, the team’s terrorism expert, and Dr. Olivier Lepick, a brilliant and charming young man who had just completed his Ph.D. on the use of chemical warfare during World War I. Dr. Daguzan had visited Israel before, and had on numerous occasions expressed his admiration for our achievements. Dr. Chaliand came from an Armenian family that immigrated to France in the early 20th century.