The Dado Center for Interdisciplinary Military Studies

Center's Logo

The Dado Center for Interdisciplinary Military Studies in the Operations Directorate of the Israel Defense Forces General Staff is a body whose purpose is to advance the operational thinking and learning processes in the IDF. At the head of the center stands a brigadier-general rank officer. The center (named after the late Chief-of-Staff David "Dado" Elazar) is charged with the development of the military campaign learning approach based on the broad operational approach and its assimilation in the IDF, and with assisting the General Staff and top IDF commands (regional commands, ground forces, etc.) in implementing it. In so doing, the Dado Center deals with the development of the fundamentals of operational learning in the IDF, assistance to the commands in their learning and thinking processes, and preparing officers in relevant posts in these fields.

History

The Dado Center is rooted in the activities of OTRI- the Operational Theory Research Institute ("Maltam" – in its Hebrew acronym). The Maltam, which was founded by Brig-General (Res.) Dr. Shimon Naveh, Brig-General (Res.) Dov (Dovik) Tamari, and Dr. Zvi Lanir, operated in the IDF from the 1990s until the middle of the 2000s.[1] The approach it advanced can be found, among other places, in Dr. Naveh's book, "Operational Art: The Emergence of Military Excellence," published in 2001.

At the beginning of 2007, the institute was reorganized under an active duty brigadier, Itai Brun,[2] and its name was changed to "The Dado Center for Interdisciplinary Military Studies", after former chief of staff Lt.-Gen. David Elazar. New researchers were hired as civilian employees. Brun ran the center until 2011, when he was replaced by Brig.-Gen. Yoram Hamo, who served until 2014. Since then, Brig.-Gen. (Res.) Dr. Meir Finkel has headed the Dado Center.

Areas of activity

The Dado Center operates in three primary fields:

  • A center for learning processes which accompanies the IDF central thinking processes. In this role, it assists in methodology and content top bodies in the General Staff, heads of the regional commands, and the commanders of other top bodies in the IDF as they carry out processes of critical analysis and development of new processes.
  • A school for the development of senior military leadership in operational thought. In this role, the center prepares senior officers for positions in the IDF General Staff, and runs targeted seminars to groups of officers on learning processes and operational thought, in order to develop new organizational and operational concepts.
  • A research institute that employs both civilian and military researchers for data mining and study of various subjects connected to the center's activities.

As part of its activities, the center also runs wargames for senior commanders, joint learning seminars with foreign militaries, and joint day-long seminars between the IDF and academic bodies.

Publications

As part of its role of developing learning approaches for the highest ranks in the IDF, the center develops and disseminates a series of internal professional manuals.

Since February 2014, the center publishes a journal named "Bein Ha-ktavim" ("In between the Poles"), which is edited by COL Eran Ortal. The journal seeks to develop IDF's knowledge processes on new and developing phenomena that influence the DF. Each issue of "Bein Ha-ktavim" is dedicated to a different subject.

The journal is published on-line in the Ma'arachot publishing website, and is distributed to senior IDF commanders, government officials, research institutes, relevant civil organizations, colleges and universities.

  • Itai Brun (August 2010). "'While You're Busy Making Other Plans' – The 'Other RMA'". Journal of Strategic Studies. 33 (4): 535–565. doi:10.1080/01402390.2010.489708.

References

  1. ↑ Feldman, Yotam (October 25, 2007). "Dr. Naveh, Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Walk Through Walls" – via Haaretz.
  2. ↑ Harel, Amos (March 10, 2011). "Brig. Gen. Brun Named Next Chief of Research at MI" – via Haaretz.
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