A special subcommittee of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, established to examine the quality of IDF officer training, handed in a report of its findings on Tuesday. The report was presented to IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi by subcommittee chairman MK Effie Eitam (National Union-NRP).

It found, among other things, that the process by which Generals are appointed is faulty and must be changed, and that officer training in general must be coordinated and improved.

The decision to establish the subcommittee was made in the wake of the military shake-up caused by the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006.

Problems with Training Senior IDF Commanders

In explaining the decision to appoint the subcommittee several months ago, Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Tzachi HaNegbi (Kadima) noted that the State Comptroller's Report of December 2006 had uncovered many fault lines in the central bodies responsible for training senior IDF commanders. These failings, HaNegbi felt, came to the fore during the war in the actions of certain command-level army officers. He assigned the subcommittee the task of examining how the military and the Defense Ministry have implemented the relevant recommendations offered by the State Comptroller.

The subcommittee examined several aspects of the IDF training issue: the content taught in courses at officers' school; practical application of the material learned; the current challenges facing the IDF; coordination among the various bodies that set IDF military tactics and the officers' training instructors; and the percentage of potential officer corps candidates who go on to assume command.

MK Eitam, himself a former career combat officer, said that the Comptroller's Report and the Second Lebanon War debriefings clearly indicated a problem with the quality of the training of senior IDF field and general staff officers. The Comptroller pointed out, for example, that several senior command courses were simply not offered for the past few years. These courses serve to develop and maintain the level of professionalism, values and morale among IDF leaders.

The "knowledge and values" of the officers' training courses, MK Eitam said, "are the backbone of the fighting spirit, and of the quality of planning and execution, of the IDF."

Conclusions

Among the subcommittee's conclusions and recommendations are the following:

** There is no organized policy governing the requirements necessary for officers to advance and develop.  Nor is there a clear training path for them to follow as they advance between tactical, organizational and strategic studies.



** The Ground Forces Tactical School was praised for providing solid background of military knowledge.  "It is recommended that most battalion commanders be graduates of this school."



** The senior officers' training courses do not have the best of the army's manpower to teach them. 



** Military studies, including various disciplines such as history, logistics, and more, must be upgraded in the public consciousness.  "There is no doubt that senior officers must be able to deal with a complex world, and must have the highest intellectual capacities.  Military studies must therefore be provided on a high level and must give academic degrees, as is the case with lawyers and doctors, just as is found in security establishments around the world."



** There must be a better integrative process between command positions and membership in the General Staff.  The amount of service in critical command positions must be lengthened.



** The process of appointing Generals is faulty and non-transparent, and must be changed from the core.



The subcommittee members included MKs Brig.-Gen. (res.) Effie Eitam, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Matan Vilnai (Labor), Lt. (res.) Yisrael Hasson (Israel Beiteinu), Shlomo Breznitz (Kadima), Yossi Beilin (Meretz-Yahad), and Tzvi Hendel (NU-NRP).