Admin I Monday, Sept 29, 2025
JERUSALEM — The Israel Defense Forces’ Intelligence Directorate (Aman) is undergoing a major “paradigm shift” aimed at placing intelligence warnings at the absolute core of its mission, Chief of the General Staff, LTG Eyal Zamir, declared Sunday during a visit to the directorate’s Unit 9900.
In unusually stark language, Zamir explicitly linked the sweeping changes to the security collapse that preceded Hamas’s devastating cross-border attack on October 7, an event he called the “great failure.”
“The Intelligence Directorate is undergoing a paradigm shift based primarily on the lessons learned from October 7th,” LTG Zamir stated. “Intelligence warnings stand at the core of the directorate’s mission, and we must ensure that all our missions support it.”
The visit, which included Head of the Intelligence Directorate MG Shlomi Binder and the Commander of Unit 9900, BG S., focused on the organization’s technological future and the operational changes implemented over the past two years, prioritizing the timely delivery of alerts.
MG Binder presented the Chief of Staff with the Directorate’s developing technological capabilities, particularly in the VISINT (Visual Intelligence) and satellite fields, areas central to the work of Unit 9900.
The emphasis on high-tech surveillance and visual monitoring underscores a concrete effort to prevent future surprise attacks.
While acknowledging the deep institutional failure of October 7, LTG Zamir was also quick to praise the directorate’s subsequent performance in the ongoing conflict.
“The Intelligence Directorate is one of the key elements that brought the IDF to unprecedented operational achievements and successes after the great failure of October 7th,” he said.
He further commended the leadership, noting that together with the line of outstanding officers, MG Binder “leads the directorate with professionalism and humility, and is steering the organization forward in the face of the major challenges ahead of us.”
The comments mark a crucial public acknowledgment by the IDF’s top brass of the need for profound structural and doctrinal reform within military intelligence, signaling a dedicated commitment to learning the painful lessons of the Hamas assault.
