Watan-The British newspaper The Guardian revealed that Yossi Sariel, the commander of the Israeli Unit 8200, left his identity exposed on the internet.
The newspaper reported that this incident is considered an “embarrassing security slip-up” for the intelligence commander known for being controversial.
Highly Sensitive Position
The identity of the commander of the Israeli Unit 8200 is one of the highly protected secrets. The individual holds one of the most sensitive positions within the occupying army and leads one of the most powerful intelligence agencies in the world.
The embarrassing security slip-up was linked to a book published on Amazon. The book left a digital trace connected to an account bearing his name and unique identifier on Google, with links to his accounts on maps and calendars.
The newspaper cited confirmed information from several sources indicating that Sariel is the secret author of the book “The Human Machine Team,” which presents a radical vision of artificial intelligence’s ability to revolutionize the relationship between military personnel and machines.
Details of the Book Revealing the Israeli Officer’s Identity
The book was published in 2021 using a pseudonym that includes the initials of his name, “Y. S.”
The book outlined plans for advanced AI-supported systems that the Israeli occupying army has been pioneering during the ongoing six-month war in Gaza.
The electronic version of the book included an easily traceable email address leading to Sariel’s name and a Google account.
What Comes After the Security Breach?
This security breach is likely to exert additional pressure on Sariel, who is said to “live and breathe” for intelligence.
However, his management period of the elite cyber intelligence unit in the Israeli occupying army has been engulfed in controversy.
Since the operation “Operation Aqsa Tempest” launched on October 7th last year, accusations have emerged that the “technical arrogance” of Unit 8200 came at the expense of relying on more traditional information gathering techniques.
It is evident that the Israeli occupying army fully embraced Sariel’s vision in the war on Gaza, a vision relying on military technology as a new front using artificial intelligence to accomplish increasingly complex tasks on the battlefield.
Sariel argued in his book published three years ago that his ideas regarding the use of machine learning to develop modern warfare should become mainstream ideas.
He added: “We just need to move those ideas from the sidelines and bring them to the center stage.”
One section of the book introduces the concept of AI-supported “target machines,” which closely resemble target recommendation systems, which the Israeli occupying army is now relying on for bombing Gaza.