IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot pulled off a brilliant maneuver this weekend, by allowing the publication of a document which detailed the IDF’s strategic doctrine. In this act, he forced the government into accepting a national security strategy as the IDF sees it – including what threats Israel faces, and the planned responses to those threats.

The title of the document, “The IDF’s Strategy” is in itself a slight, as the political leadership is the authority which dictates national security strategy, not the army. But this is where Eisenkot’s experience in dealing with the political echelon comes to play, and in his own way the chief of staff forced the leadership to accept the strategy he believes in. From here on out, no one can claim that the IDF makes up threats and then builds up unrealistic responses to them. The IDF received a de-facto green light to pursue its strategic vision the moment the document was approved by the prime minister and the defense minister.

Eisenkot released the report to the public on a symbolic occasion, exactly six months after he took the post of chief of staff, although it’s doubtful that the timing of the release was planned. The impetus for releasing the report seems to have been the publication of the Locker Committee’s report. The negative reactions to the report within the army ranks seemed to raise the question of possible alternatives. Eisenkot provided the answer with a thoroughly planned strategy dealing with the security threats facing Israel, with special importance being placed on the IDF’s “shock and awe” doctrine for the northern front. The capabilities being developed for this doctrine will serve the IDF on all of its fronts.

Read the article in full at Ynet.