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Israel's armed forces shocked at dismissal of missile defence chief | Israel's armed forces shocked at dismissal of missile defence chief |
(34 minutes later) | |
Israel’s defence ministry was tight-lipped on Monday following the instant dismissal of the country’s missile defence head amid reports he was found with classified information on his personal laptop. | |
Yair Ramati was sacked for a “grave breach of information security” and relevant authorities would take the case further, the ministry said in a statement. | |
Israeli media reports said Ramati had broken protocol when he transferred documents to his computer, making them easier to steal. | |
Colleagues were shocked at Ramati’s dismissal following a recent period of success. Arrow 3, a system designed to counter ballistic missiles, hit a target in space to pass its first full test in early December, and a week later Ramati said David’s Sling, which guards against medium-range threats, had ended its testing phase and would be deployed by the Israeli air force. | |
The former director of the Israeli atomic energy commission, Uzi Eilam, told Israel Radio he had known Ramati for 30 years and found the news hard to believe. | |
“I don’t understand, and I don’t know what happened and what exactly he is supposed to have done. The field is losing a great man, even though nobody is irreplaceable. This is very, very regrettable.” | “I don’t understand, and I don’t know what happened and what exactly he is supposed to have done. The field is losing a great man, even though nobody is irreplaceable. This is very, very regrettable.” |
Ramati had worked on Israel’s missile defence programme since 1981 and headed Homa, the missile defence agency, for four years. The Israeli military scientist Yitzhak Ben Israel said he was a “very talented man” and that “his ousting was a loss for Israel”. | |
Several Israeli military officers have been fired recently for breaching security. Ilan Levy, the commander of a northern brigade in Israel, was sacked after his car was stolen with a file inside that contained confidential documents. Israel’s internal security service and police were later able to locate the car and recover the documents. | |
Lt Col Elad Marom, son of the former head of the Israeli air force, was also removed from his post for “providing information to an unauthorised individual”. | Lt Col Elad Marom, son of the former head of the Israeli air force, was also removed from his post for “providing information to an unauthorised individual”. |
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