The Keyboard Warriors of the IDF
"For the first time, full IDF technological training courses are available through an internal network," says the commander of the IDF School of Computer Specialties, Lt. Col. Rami Shaqed, who trains the IDF's future technology officers
Ami Rojkes Dombe
| 05/01/2017
Illustration: Bigstock
Over the last few years, IDF have experienced a substantial technological revolution. Warfare has become network-based, combat operations have evolved into combined-arms operations and the offensive layouts of IDF have come to rely on cutting-edge technology in order to close their strike loops and 'incriminate' targets within a matter of seconds. This is complemented by the trend within IDF in the last two years toward independent (in-house) development and maintenance of computer systems based on open-source code.
If you review the equation, when on the one hand technology is evolving into the foundations and pillars of warfare, while on the other hand IDF aspire to do everything "in house" independently, the outcome will be a heavy burden of responsibility assigned to the technological training layout of IDF. One of the primary elements of this layout is the IDF School of Computer Specialties, recently renamed the IDF Academy of Computer and Cyber Security Specialties (ACCSS).
Each year, some 10,000 trainees pass through ACCSS, of whom about 2,000 are new conscripts while the rest are servicepersons coming in to attend advanced training courses from the various units of IDF. The training course range includes courses for programmers, cyber security specialists, computer system infrastructure administrators, network administrators, courseware development specialists, software testing specialists and many other specialties. Most of the trainees are either servicewomen or servicemen who had been selected for rear-area service owing to medical reasons.
"Today there are no motivation problems among candidates for computer training," says Lt. Col. Rami Shaqed, commander of ACCSS. "Our problem is how to select the very best from among all those who want to come here. There is also the problem of the small percentage of women and graduates from Israel's peripheral areas. For this reason, we decided that one half of the trainees in our programming course will be servicewomen. We have also opened a software testing training course for orthodox religious conscripts, with the objective of offering an equal opportunity to all segments of the population."
"The recent initiatives of IDF to 'bring back home' systems for independent development, like the case of 'Tirat Ha'Agam', the establishment of the Cyber Warfare Arm, the future cloud computing tender and other processes demand the technological capabilities that we are developing here," says Lt. Col. Shaqed. "The same goes for open-source code projects or such cutting-edge technologies as VR that are currently being introduced to the battlefield. In the past, we had a client who had specified the requirements. Today, the wheel has turned, the technology specialists are those who present the needs to the operational echelon and inform them of what technology can enable them to do.
"Today you will see a young technological officer sitting down with a brigade commander, demonstrating the capabilities of a new product and promising him that during the next brigade training exercise they will be able to test it. You could never see those things in the IDF of the past. Technologies such as Big Data, IoT, cloud computing, mobile and cyber warfare are all parts of the new reality of the IDF combat echelons.
"The challenge is dealing with young people when every single person had received different schooling. It is not the generation of the past where everyone had received the same training. We have formulated our training courses afresh. Courses for programmers, cyber security specialists, software testing specialists, computer system infrastructure administrators. The idea was to introduce new technologies as well as a new learning process.
"The technology specialist who graduates from this school and goes to serve with the technological units of one of the IDF arms having completed his training term will have to meet the requirements of the operational unit. If he is assigned to the IDF Navy and has to become a member of a team that has to link the Radar system of a naval vessel to its gun system within one week, as the vessel is scheduled to depart for operational activity, then he/she will have to meet the demands. The same applies to aircraft, tanks or logistic systems. While at ACCSS he or she had enjoyed the freedom to learn in the manner that best suited him or her, then in the operational unit he or she will have to cope with the reality on the ground promptly and effectively."
As in the case of infantry operations, performance under pressure, be it mental or physical, is significant in the cyber warfare world as well, so at ACCSS they want to find out how the trainees of the cyber security specialist course would perform under pressure. Toward the end of their training process, the trainees in this course participate in a simulated scenario where they are placed under physical pressure and when it reaches a peak, they are required to face a scenario involving a complex cyber warfare attack. Any trainee who fails to cope will be rejected.
"This examination is intended to determine how the trainees will conduct themselves opposite the keyboard when the body reaches a high stress and exertion threshold," explains Lt. Col. Shaqed. "During the exercise, they do not get any sleep for 24 hours and then they enter a cyber warfare situation. At the peak of their physical effort, we present them with cyber warfare attack scenarios simulating a real war. Anyone who fails to perform properly will be rejected."
E-Learning Activity
The primary objective of ACCSS is getting the trainee to a situation where he or she will be able to learn on his or her own – independently of any external element that would dictate what he or she should learn. In the professional jargon of the education world this is known as self-regulated learning, or SRL: "We want the trainee to understand the meaning of the algorithm he/she is studying," explains Lt. Col. Shaqed. "How this algorithm helps his/her parents sleep peacefully at night. It's not that simple. How do you explain to him/her that Assembler language helps secure the northern border or Tel-Aviv?
"We recently started developing a feedback system for the graduates of our courses. The system collects data regarding the graduates' performance at the units they were assigned to. We want to understand whether the training courses provided by ACCSS actually fulfill the needs of the units on the ground. This process is currently under development. We do not have a sufficient amount of data yet, but it is an initiative that should generate a cyclic feedback process which would improve the IDF's technological training process.
"We also teach them to share and search for information with others. We installed laptop computers with access to the Internet in our classrooms. These are 'sterilized' computers that do not have a camera or a microphone. I am not familiar with any other IDF training base where the trainees have this option. The fact that a computer with access to the Internet is available right alongside each standard IDF computer enables the trainee to adopt autodidactic learning methods. He or she searches the Internet for solutions to problems and hones his/her curiosity. This is the situation you will find at civilian software houses.
"We have also established at ACCSS the IDF's first E-learning activity. For the first time, full IDF technological training courses are available through an internal network. We appointed a designated female officer at the rank of major to establish and operate this activity. Now you can take ACCSS training courses from practically anywhere through your laptop computer, at your own pace and time. You can have a full training course during which you will write a code and it will be examined by other IDF specialists from various units that constitute knowledge centers. You will only report to ACCSS in person to take the examination.
"The same platform also serves the trainees for the programming language self-learning course. The primary language of the programming course is Java, and they learn SQL and Python on their own at the same time through the on-line course system. We have also developed an application for cellular devices that is totally civilian, through which you can select the courses and learn on your own. This is truly revolutionary for IDF.
"It is more important for us to provide the technology specialist with a mindset that would enable him/her to cope with the missions IDF need. That means DevOps, open-source code, Full Stack but in addition – ethics, performance under pressure and autodidactic learning. All of these elements are more important than this or that programming language. Languages can be learned. The fundamental framework created by a good programmer or network administrator is difficult to develop. That is our challenge."
"For the first time, full IDF technological training courses are available through an internal network," says the commander of the IDF School of Computer Specialties, Lt. Col. Rami Shaqed, who trains the IDF's future technology officers
Over the last few years, IDF have experienced a substantial technological revolution. Warfare has become network-based, combat operations have evolved into combined-arms operations and the offensive layouts of IDF have come to rely on cutting-edge technology in order to close their strike loops and 'incriminate' targets within a matter of seconds. This is complemented by the trend within IDF in the last two years toward independent (in-house) development and maintenance of computer systems based on open-source code.
If you review the equation, when on the one hand technology is evolving into the foundations and pillars of warfare, while on the other hand IDF aspire to do everything "in house" independently, the outcome will be a heavy burden of responsibility assigned to the technological training layout of IDF. One of the primary elements of this layout is the IDF School of Computer Specialties, recently renamed the IDF Academy of Computer and Cyber Security Specialties (ACCSS).
Each year, some 10,000 trainees pass through ACCSS, of whom about 2,000 are new conscripts while the rest are servicepersons coming in to attend advanced training courses from the various units of IDF. The training course range includes courses for programmers, cyber security specialists, computer system infrastructure administrators, network administrators, courseware development specialists, software testing specialists and many other specialties. Most of the trainees are either servicewomen or servicemen who had been selected for rear-area service owing to medical reasons.
"Today there are no motivation problems among candidates for computer training," says Lt. Col. Rami Shaqed, commander of ACCSS. "Our problem is how to select the very best from among all those who want to come here. There is also the problem of the small percentage of women and graduates from Israel's peripheral areas. For this reason, we decided that one half of the trainees in our programming course will be servicewomen. We have also opened a software testing training course for orthodox religious conscripts, with the objective of offering an equal opportunity to all segments of the population."
"The recent initiatives of IDF to 'bring back home' systems for independent development, like the case of 'Tirat Ha'Agam', the establishment of the Cyber Warfare Arm, the future cloud computing tender and other processes demand the technological capabilities that we are developing here," says Lt. Col. Shaqed. "The same goes for open-source code projects or such cutting-edge technologies as VR that are currently being introduced to the battlefield. In the past, we had a client who had specified the requirements. Today, the wheel has turned, the technology specialists are those who present the needs to the operational echelon and inform them of what technology can enable them to do.
"Today you will see a young technological officer sitting down with a brigade commander, demonstrating the capabilities of a new product and promising him that during the next brigade training exercise they will be able to test it. You could never see those things in the IDF of the past. Technologies such as Big Data, IoT, cloud computing, mobile and cyber warfare are all parts of the new reality of the IDF combat echelons.
"The challenge is dealing with young people when every single person had received different schooling. It is not the generation of the past where everyone had received the same training. We have formulated our training courses afresh. Courses for programmers, cyber security specialists, software testing specialists, computer system infrastructure administrators. The idea was to introduce new technologies as well as a new learning process.
"The technology specialist who graduates from this school and goes to serve with the technological units of one of the IDF arms having completed his training term will have to meet the requirements of the operational unit. If he is assigned to the IDF Navy and has to become a member of a team that has to link the Radar system of a naval vessel to its gun system within one week, as the vessel is scheduled to depart for operational activity, then he/she will have to meet the demands. The same applies to aircraft, tanks or logistic systems. While at ACCSS he or she had enjoyed the freedom to learn in the manner that best suited him or her, then in the operational unit he or she will have to cope with the reality on the ground promptly and effectively."
As in the case of infantry operations, performance under pressure, be it mental or physical, is significant in the cyber warfare world as well, so at ACCSS they want to find out how the trainees of the cyber security specialist course would perform under pressure. Toward the end of their training process, the trainees in this course participate in a simulated scenario where they are placed under physical pressure and when it reaches a peak, they are required to face a scenario involving a complex cyber warfare attack. Any trainee who fails to cope will be rejected.
"This examination is intended to determine how the trainees will conduct themselves opposite the keyboard when the body reaches a high stress and exertion threshold," explains Lt. Col. Shaqed. "During the exercise, they do not get any sleep for 24 hours and then they enter a cyber warfare situation. At the peak of their physical effort, we present them with cyber warfare attack scenarios simulating a real war. Anyone who fails to perform properly will be rejected."
E-Learning Activity
The primary objective of ACCSS is getting the trainee to a situation where he or she will be able to learn on his or her own – independently of any external element that would dictate what he or she should learn. In the professional jargon of the education world this is known as self-regulated learning, or SRL: "We want the trainee to understand the meaning of the algorithm he/she is studying," explains Lt. Col. Shaqed. "How this algorithm helps his/her parents sleep peacefully at night. It's not that simple. How do you explain to him/her that Assembler language helps secure the northern border or Tel-Aviv?
"We recently started developing a feedback system for the graduates of our courses. The system collects data regarding the graduates' performance at the units they were assigned to. We want to understand whether the training courses provided by ACCSS actually fulfill the needs of the units on the ground. This process is currently under development. We do not have a sufficient amount of data yet, but it is an initiative that should generate a cyclic feedback process which would improve the IDF's technological training process.
"We also teach them to share and search for information with others. We installed laptop computers with access to the Internet in our classrooms. These are 'sterilized' computers that do not have a camera or a microphone. I am not familiar with any other IDF training base where the trainees have this option. The fact that a computer with access to the Internet is available right alongside each standard IDF computer enables the trainee to adopt autodidactic learning methods. He or she searches the Internet for solutions to problems and hones his/her curiosity. This is the situation you will find at civilian software houses.
"We have also established at ACCSS the IDF's first E-learning activity. For the first time, full IDF technological training courses are available through an internal network. We appointed a designated female officer at the rank of major to establish and operate this activity. Now you can take ACCSS training courses from practically anywhere through your laptop computer, at your own pace and time. You can have a full training course during which you will write a code and it will be examined by other IDF specialists from various units that constitute knowledge centers. You will only report to ACCSS in person to take the examination.
"The same platform also serves the trainees for the programming language self-learning course. The primary language of the programming course is Java, and they learn SQL and Python on their own at the same time through the on-line course system. We have also developed an application for cellular devices that is totally civilian, through which you can select the courses and learn on your own. This is truly revolutionary for IDF.
"It is more important for us to provide the technology specialist with a mindset that would enable him/her to cope with the missions IDF need. That means DevOps, open-source code, Full Stack but in addition – ethics, performance under pressure and autodidactic learning. All of these elements are more important than this or that programming language. Languages can be learned. The fundamental framework created by a good programmer or network administrator is difficult to develop. That is our challenge."
