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1. Introduction

2. The Essence of Surprise

3 . Surprise and Military Preparedness

4. Dimensions of Erroneous Estimates

5. Information, Intentions and Capabilities

6. Estimating Intentions - The Enemy's Conceptual Framework

7. Estimating Capabilities

S. Biased Estimates

9. The Environment - Groupthink and the Small Group

1 0 Organizational and Bureaucratic Explanation

11. Intelligence and Decision Makers

12. Conclusions
The issue of strategic surprise and specially the subject of surprise attack are
some of the most complex problems that policymakers, militaries and
intelligence analysts have to face. This is particularly true for states such as
Israel, as it was demonstrated during the Yorn Kippur War in 1973. Israel was
taken by surprise which effected the beginning of the war, as well as the final
results.

From the Israeli perspective the basic problem was rooted in the imbalance
between the size of the Arab and the Israeli military and the asymmetry seen
from a geographical perspective. The IDF (Israeli defense forces) is primarily
based on reserve forces, whereas the Arab militaries are mainly active.
Therefor the deployment of the Israeli reserves depends on early warning, a
decision of mobilization and its execution. Moreover, Israel has no strategic
depth and its vital objectives are very close to the borders. These factors
indicate the significance of the surprise attack and the need for intelligence
warning, as a fundamental issue in the national security doctrine.

This paper discusses the theoretical components of this subject, using the
Yom Kippur War as a case study. It examines the subject from the victim's
standpoint and seeks to establish the reasons for failing to predict the
oncoming war.

The discussion about prediction of imminent war is probably one of the most
difficult and complex issues in the field of strategic estimation. It involves the
process of gathering information, evaluation, assessment and decisions. It is
influenced by perceptions, the interpretation of data, organizational conflicts
and military and policy constraints. This paper does not suggest that there is
only one basic explanation to the surprise attack at Yom Kippur, because
there is not just one cause which describes the problem in all its dimensions
and complexities. This paper analyzes the evaluation and estimation process
before the war in relation to the main theories of strategic surprise.

The essence of surprise is a very complex subject. First, it is an act or

development that takes place contrary to our expectations, thus proving our
assumptions to be wrong. Second, the surprise comes without a sufficient
warning and therefore catches us unprepared, hence our inadequate response.
Finally, the sudden occurrence provokes our emotions which may throw us
off balance, at least for a while.

Zvi Lanir distinguishes between situational surprise and fundamental

surprise..' The situational surprise exposes errors in assumptions and
predictions, but does not undermine the basic conceptions; its existence is
limited and narrow. The fundamental surprise is essentially a national
problem and not just an intelligence failure. Its intensity is much stronger
exposing very basic conceptual flaws.

l~anirZvi, Fundamental Surprise : The National Intelligence Crisis, Tel Aviv: Hakibutz
Hameuchad, 1983, pg. 40-44 (Hebrew).
2
The concept of surprise attack appears to contain three main elements2: first,
it is a military act that is not consistent with the victim's expectations and
assumptions. From this viewpoint the strength of surprise depends on the
nature and depth of these assumptions. Second, .a surprise attack implies a
failure of advance warning. In this sense the strength of the surprise is in
reverse proportion to the timing and clarity of the early warning. Last, a
surprise attack indicates the victim's failure to adequately meet the threats. In
this sense, the degree of surprise can be deduced from the victim's level of
preparedness at the moment of the attack.

Obviously there is a clear connection between these three elements.

Assumptions and expectations regarding a possible attack determine the
timing and clarity of any advance warning. The preciseness of the warning
determines both the speed of the response and the extent of preparedness for
war. The wider the range of the victim's erroneous assumption, the more
vague and late the advance warning is and consequently the more inadequate
the level of preparedness.

Military preparedness is an outcome of a series of measures - alertness,

mobilization and redeployment - designed to counter an attack.

2~amEftaim, "SurpriseAttack - Obstacles and safeguards",in

S~GUII&,Maarachot, Tel Aviv, 1988, pg. 322-323 (Hebrew).
3
The state of military preparedness at the time of attack is the outcome of two
main factors3:
1. The core of preparedness consists of those basic measures taken by the
state as minimal precautions against potential future attacks.
2. Additional emergency measures which are determined largely by the
strategic warning itself.

The IDF cannot keep its units in full readiness for a long period of time, and
normally its basic preparedness is far from sufficient to face a massive attack.
Thus, the warning should enable the armed forces to bring their state of
preparedness up to the required level. In this sense the lack of preparedness of
the IDF in the Yom Kippur War was more due to the lack of emergency
measures rather than the basic measures.

The second problem of preparedness refers to the warning span. The

intelligence community is often required to assess the length of time before an
attack, that it may be able to issue an advance warning. Such an assessment is
very helpful in planning and setting the desired level of basic preparedness.

The Israeli contingencies in 1973 were based on the assumption that there
would be an advance warning of more than 48 hours. The director of military
intelligence assured the general staff, that he would be able to give advance
warning of enemy intentions to launch an attack in adequate time, thus

3~ylonAvraham, "National Readiness - The Primary Solution To Surprise Attack", by Offer

and Kover (ed.),-a1 Secun&,Maarachot 1988, pg. 379-380, (Hebrew).
4
allowing for the orderly call-up of the reserves.4 Consequently the
mobilization of reserve forces was not included among readiness measures
until the last day before the war. Reliance on the director's promise was a
fatal error.
-
The Agranat Inquiry Commission (a governmental commission) concluded
that there were no grounds for such an absolute guaranteee5The problem is
that nobody outside the intelligence community has the knowledge and
experience to check the capability of intelligence agencies to issue a strategic
warning. Moreover, according to General Barak, even within the intelligence
community itself, the estimate of the warning span is to a large extent a
speculative. It is based on many factors, some of them exclusively under the
enemy's control and some related to an assumed capability of analyzing a
developing situation which can never be relied on.6

O n October 5th., 1973, the Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, approved
a "C" alert, the highest level of alert for the regular army and the air force,
but he did not approve the mobilization of reserves. Moreover, in the
morning of October 6th., when it was obvious that Egypt and Syria were
going to attack, Israel decided to reject a preemptive attack by its air force.
This decision derived from multiple causes. According to Michael Handel,
the primary reason was the international en~ironment.~Golda
Meir and

4 ~ a r t o vHanoch, w j s , Tel Aviv: Maariv, 1978, pg. 278-279,

(Hebrew).
j ~ ~ r a n Commission,
at The Aganat Report, Am Oved, 1975, pg. 19-20 (Hebrew).
6 ~ a r a kEhud, "Issues in Intelligence", by Offer and Kover (ed.),h d g e e
Security, pg. 493, (Hebrew).
7~andel Michael," The Yorn Kippur War Inevitability of Surprise", International Studies
Quarterly, 21, 1977, pg. 473
Dayan later admitted that the Israeli government feared losing the support of
the United States, Israel's only ally. The desire not to make the first
hostile move and the world's opinion were very important to Israel.*
But to the issue of readiness, it may be concluded that the Israeli decision to
delay any additional preparations was heavily influenced by the high
confidence in its ability to absorb an Arab attack without excessive cost.
Obviously, the safer the leaders feel with basic preparedness, the more they
are willing to take risks and to postpone further moves.

Surprise can be achieved on several different levels:

in timing, the place of the attack, rapidity of movement, the use of new
technologies delivery and weapons system, the frequent appearance of new
doctrines and innovative tactics to match the new technologies, as well as in
the choice of political-military goals for war i t ~ e l f . ~

From Arab reports, it is clear that the planning and timing of the attack were
very pedantic. Early October was chosen as the best time to attack for a
variety of reasons: first, the autumn climate was most suitable for the
attacking forces; secondly, it assumed that because of the Jewish Holiday the
Israeli level of alert would be lower, and more than the usual number of
soldiers would be on leave; the third reason was the approach of the Israeli
elections in early November, which diverted the attention of Israeli leaders

*~akdimonShlomo, J ,ow Probability, Tel Aviv: Revivim 1982, pg. 7 1, (Hebrew).

9 ~ a n d eMichael,
l "Intelligence and The Problem of Strategic Surprise", The Journal of
Strategic Studies, 1984, pg. 23 1-232.
6
from security matters and foreign affairs to domestic affairs and political
campaigning. Finally, the holiest Arab Holiday, the Ramadan, fell in
October, and it was hoped that Israel would assume that no Moslem country
would initiate a war during that month.1° The Israeli intelligence estimated
during 1973 that the Arabs would not be in a position to carry out their
threat of war until sometimes in 1975, while Moshe Dayan even claimed in
July 1973 that no general war expected during the next ten years.ll

The Egyptians and Syrians surprised Israel not only in the timing of the
-
attack but also in another important area technology. The effectiveness of
some Arab weapons, in particular Soviet antiair missiles (Sam 6,7), antitank
-
missiles (Sagar and Swatter), and bridging equipment came as a great
surprise to Israeli troops on the battlefield. Although the supply to the Arab
armies of these weapons were known to the IDF, the way in which they were
used and its full impact under combat conditions came as a surprise.12
Finally, Egypt's decision to change its tactics and methods of warfare,
abandon the search for long-range aerial attack capability, and reliance on
the neutralization of Israeli aerial superiority with a massive anti-aircraft
system was apparently made shortly before October. This change in doctrine
was unknown to the Israeli intelligence, and it surly had a large impact, at
least in the first week of the war.13

losadat Anwar, In Search of -, New York: Harper and Row, 1977, pg. 244
l ~ e r z Haim,
o ~ The War of Aton-, Tel Aviv: Steimatzky, 1975, pg. 41.
12~andel Michael, "Crisis and Surprise in Three Arab-Israeli Wars", by Knorr and Morgan
..
(ed.),SUateeic Mllltary S
,- N.J.: Transaction Books, 1983, pg. 13.
~hlaimAvi, "Failure in National Intelligence Estimates", World Politics, 28, 1976, pg. 348.
7
INFORMATIOh7 1h TT E N T I O h s
7 AND CAPABILITIES

Analysis of surprise attacks suggest that the intelligence community xldom

fails to anticipate them as a result of a lack of relevant information.. In most
cases the victim possesses plenty of information indicating the imminence of
the attack. l4

Preparation for war generally produce early warning indications. They

indicate the state of the enemy's military readiness and the build-up of its
capability for war. At the same time early warning indicators should give
some indications of the enemy's intentions and implicitly, point to its
direction, objectives, and decisions behind them.

Undoubtedly, the enemy's perceived capabilities and intentions are the key to
predicting his future behavior. But there is a long-standing debate over
whether the enemy should be evaluated mainly in terms of his capabilities or
in terms of his intentions.15 O n one hand it can be argued that concentrating
on the enemy's capabilities is more sound, since it produces evaluation based
on "facts" and "measurable data", rather than guesses as to what the enemy
has in mind. O n the other hand, if we always respond according to the
-
enemy's capabilities how can we keep our forces below our own maximum
capability?

l j ~ e n - ~Avraham,
vi "Hindsight and Foresight: A Conceptual Framework for the Analysis of
Surprise Attack", World Politics, 28, 1976, pg. 494.
15~andel Michael, "Intelligence and the Problem of Strategic Surprise", pg. 239-24 1
8
Estimates of intentions differ from those of capabilities in terms of both the
data and the material involved, as well as the difficulties those estimates
entail. Intentions are very difficult to follow, particularly in the single leader's
regime; They can be changed at the last minute and estimating thkm as not as
capabilities may result in total failure.16

The case of Yom Kippur demonstrates the interdependent relations between

estimates of intentions and capabilities. An erroneous estimate of the enemy's
intentions may lead to an erroneous estimate of his capabilities. When the
analyst estimates the enemy's capabilities as insufficient for launching a
successful attack, he will tend not to take seriously the enemy's intentions.17
In 1973 Israel assumed that Egypt lacked the military capability needed for a
successful attack across the Suez Canal, and therefore did not pay much
attention to Sadat's threats of war.

-
ESTIMATING INTENTIONS THE ENEMY'S CDNC33'TUAL
FMMEWORK

A logical evaluation of the enemy's intentions is not enough. Sometimes, the

enemy may evaluate his own capabilities and options according to different
criteria, and he may reach different conclusions and act in an unexpected
way. Looking at the reality through the enemy's eyes means not only an
understanding of his ideology, but also studying his ~ u f t u r d i d e n t i t yand

l 6 ~ a n d eMichael,
i "Inteliigence and the Problem of Strategic Surprise", pg. 240
17shlaim Avi, "Failure in National Intelligence Estimates", pg. 362.
9
operational codr.18It means understanding his motivation, expectations,
fears and his dynamics and pressures. The Israeli assessments relied upon the
physical and qualitative balance of forces. Judging the balance to be in its
favor, and assuming that the Arabs would not be so foolish as to attack in the
-
face of such superiority the Israeli government chose not to respond to early
indications that Egypt was preparing for a war. In doing so they failed to
assess the Egyptian need for a "psychological recovery", and the possibility
that Sadat would initiate a war of limited objectives, designed to achieve a
political victory far short of the military defeat of 1srael.l9

Israel's military logic was "western" in the sense that war did not appear to be
a viable option, unless victory was assumed. Unlike Israel, the Arab states
could lose a war and still exist. Moreover, they assumed that they could lose
the battle and still win the war politically. This was the reason for Israel's
failure to perceive the Arabs willingness to accept high risks in order to
change the political status-quo.

ESTIMATING CAPABI1,TTTES

At a meeting of the General Staff on September 17th. 1973, the Israeli

Director of Military Intelligence announced that for the moment, because of
Israeli air superiority, the Arabs were unable to go to war.20This assertion
took into considerations not only the enemy's absolute capability, but as
related to Israel's capability to block it. It raises the question about the criteria

1 8 ~ c ~ o r r nGi.c, "Surprise, Perceptions and Military Style", Orbis 26, 1983, pg. 833-83 5 .
191bid, pg. 836.
*O~artov Hanoch, P 3 pg..278. -
10
which is used in order to define accurately what is within the range of enemy
capability and what is beyond it.

According to Handel, one of the methods to draw a general conclusion, with

regard to the enemy capabilities, is based not only on comparing weapons
inventories, but also using the experience of his past performance.21 In 1973
Israel partly based its assessment of Arab capabilities on the poor performance
of the Arab armies between 1967-1970.

"The Six Days War and the various postwar clashes between Israeli and Arab
units in the air and on the ground led us to the judgment that if war broke
out it would not be difficult for Israel to winn,22wrote Dayan in his book. In
this sense the Arab armies surprised Israel by manifesting a higher degree of
motivation and an improved combat capability in the 1973 war. Under
estimation of the enemy was not the only problem. It also involved the
overestimation of the Israeli capabilities that contributed to the belief in
military superiority. Dayan expressed such a belief two months before the
Yom Kippqr War: "The overall balance of power is in our favor, and this fact
is overwhelmingly decisive in the face of all other considerations and prevents
the immediate renewal of war... Our military advantage is the outcome of
both the weakness of the Arabs and our increasing strength. Their weakness
arises from factors that I do not suppose will quickly disappear ... Our
superiority can, in my opinion be maintained in the coming years as well."2'

21~andel Michael, "The Yom Kippur War and the Intelligence Surprise", International Studies
Quarterly, 21, 1977, pg. 165.
2 2 ~ o s hDayan,
e The Story of My L&, Tel Aviv: Steimatzky, 1976, pg. 509.
23~akdimin Shlomo,
, -J pg. 68,81.
11
The belief in military superiority is closely linked to the belief in d e t e r r e n ~ e . ~ ~
When decision makers believe that their armed forces have an overwhelming
superiority, they tend to be overconfident about their deterrent posture. As
their confidence in deterrence rises, they may ignore early warning indicators
of imminent war.

"As long as the deterrence is not openly challenged, the defender is inclined
to assume that deterrence is working."25Thus, within the Israeli leadership in
1973 nobody questioned the assumption that the IDF's overwhelming
superiority over the Arab armies guaranteed, at least in the short term, that
the Arabs would be deterred from getting into military adventures.

BIASED ESTIMATES

The possibility of surprise is inherent in the limitations of human perception.

Surprise is essentially a psychological phenomenon that has its roots in
human nature. Images, beliefs, ideological bias, wishful thinking - all play a
part in the process of intelligence analysis.Z6Moreover, human beings are also
influenced by other cognitive impediments such as framing and anchoring,
consensus seeking, stress avoidance, optimism or pessimism, e t ~ . ~ ~

24~am Efiaim, Surprise Attack, Harvard University press Cambridge, MS, 1988, pg. 1 14
? j ~ e o r and
~ e Smoke, Deterrence in American Forei~nPolicy, New York: Columbia
University, 1974, pg. 567
26~hlaimAvi, "Failure in National Intelligence Estimates", pg. 356-357.
..
27~anisand Mann,,- New York: Free Press, 1977, pg. 107-1 10.
12
Interpretation is partly based on preexisting systems of knowledge which
includes beliefs, theories, assumptions and schemes. Because of limits in
mental capacity, the human mind can not cope directly with the conhsing
reality. In order to deal with the complexity of the world, the individual has
to form simplified, structured beliefs about the nature of the world. These
beliefs provide the individual a coherent way of organizing and making sense
out of the information he possesses.28

The basic problem is the persistence of that inevitable and indispensable set of
conception that guides the analyst in selecting and interpreting the
information. Psychologists have found that people's theories, beliefs and
images have an extraordinary persistence despite a wide range of evidence,
that should invalidate or at least change them. In general, people are apt to
resist a change in their beliefs and they may too quickly reject discrepant
information .29

The Agranat Commission of Inquiry stated explicitly that such persistence

was the root of the Israeli failure in October 1973. Sadat's failure to go to war,
as he had asserted he would by the end of 1971, convinced Israel's leadership
that threats by the Egyptians president need not be taken seriously.
Moreover, his expulsion of the Soviet advisers was also read as a crucial
indicator of Egypt's military weakness and as a proof of Sadat's
determination not to become involved in a war with Israel, at least for several

28~onham, Shapiro and Tumble, "The October War: Changes in Cognitive Orientation
Towards the Middle East Conflict", International Studies Quarterly, 23, 1979, pg. 17.
29~ervisRobert, Perception and Misperception in Interd o n a 1 Politics, Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1976, pg. 176-177.
13
years.30What became known as "the conception" was the dogmatic belief in a
political and military preconception, which maintained that:
1. Egypt would not initiate a war as long as it did not have the capability
to neutralize the Israeli air force.
2. Arab leadership would have to be strengthened and united.31

"The conception" had been vindicated only a few months before October. In
May 1973, The Israeli intelligence assessed correctly the Egyptian-Syrian
military build up near the borders. General Zaira estimated that these
activities were just another move to the brink and subsequently the threat
would then subside. The Chief of Staff, General Elazar, did not accept this
evaluation and ordered a partial mobilization, which was severely criticized at
the time, as costly and unnecessary.32 This crisis was not part of Sadat's plan
of action. But at that time it had an impact on decisionmakers' belief in "the
conception" .33

But as the Agranat Commission stated, on the evening of the war a vast body
of data was accumulated, indicating an unprecedented deployment of enemy

information and how did they explain its discrepancies?

30~recherMichael, Decision in Crisis: Israel, 1967 and 1973, Berkeley: University of

California Press, 1980, pg. 53-54.
ranat at Commission, The Agrmat Report, Am Oved, 1975, pg. 19-20.
32~hlaim Avi, "Failure in National Intelligence Estimates", pg. 358.
3 3 ~ e Porat
n Yoel, "The Yom Kippur War - A Mistake on May and a Surprise on October",
Maarachot, 811985, pg. 2-9, (Hebrew).
14
First, the interpretation of incoming information is affected not only by the
belief system, but by expectations as to the enemy's behavior, which are
largely based on past experience. Since expectations are rooted mainly in
beliefs and images, they tend to persist even in the face of disconfirming
inf~rmation.~~
Secondly, psychologists have noted that individuals tend to perceive what
they expect. In conditions of uncertainty they have a tendency to increase the
subjective probability of those events that are regarded as more de~irable.3~
This phenomenon, knows as "wishfulthinking': means that when there is a
great preference for a particular outcome, ambiguous signals will be
misinterpreted, even when people realize that they are signals rather than
noise.

Finally, when the incoming information is too discrepant to be disposed of

one mechanism for achieving consistency while minimizing the adjustment of
the concepts is differentiation.The analyst splits the information into two or
more parts and adjusts only his beliefs concerning the part that is causing
conflict.36 During the first days of October, the Egyptians build up was
explained by Israeli intelligence as a part of a major maneuver ("Tachrir 41 "),
which was taking place at that time. The Syrian build up was not considered
sufficiently significant, since it was assumed that Syria could not go to war
without Egypt, and this was considered unlikely.37

34~ervisRobert, Perception and Misperception in International Politics. pg. 145- 147.

35~andel Michael, "The Yom Kippur War and the Inevitability of Surprise", International
Studies Quarterly, 2 1, 1977, pg.472.
36~onham, Shapiro and Tumble, "The October War: Changes in Cognitive Orientation
Towards the Middle East Conflict", pg.17.
37~artov Hanoch, Daddo - 48 Years and 20 more Days, pg. 296.
15
I meiitiotie$ before the overconfi$ei-lce factor as it affected t:-le Israeli
.- - -
1 .- -1 - .. -1- !
leauersriip uii the operational level. They-were willing to take high risks
because of their confidence in the TDFcapability .,But it can a h bk argued,
that this overconfidence had ati impact oti the conceptual level. The Israeli
Intelligence was so overconfident in their ability to predict a war (in particular
after their success in May), that they could not recognize the signals and
warning indicators. Ben Porat concludes that "the higher the degree of
confidence, the lower the analyst will be to accommodate discrepant
evidence, and the
1-ess
--
willing he will be to accept alternative hypotheses about the enemy's
intention" .38

Irving Janis defines groupthink as "a mode of thinking that people engage in
when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the mernbers'
strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise
alternative courses of action''.39His main hypothesis regarding groupthink
asserts that "the more amiability and espirit de corps among the members of a
policy-making in-group, the greater is the danger that independent critical
thinking will be replaced by groupthink 11 .40

3 8 ~ ePorat
n Yoei, "Why Estimates Collapse?", in M l i g e n c e and National Security,
Maarachot, 1988, pg. 224.
. . . .
39~anvis Irving: Victims of Groupthlnklng, Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1972, pg. 9-10
%bid, pg. 12.
16
Pressure for confirmity can be created not only by the opinion of the majority
but also by the opinions of two i m p r t a n t members of the group: the leader
and the expert.41 In late September 1973, the Head of the Israeli Mossad
Intelligence Service and the Deputy Chief of Staff, claimed separately that the
probability of war was relatively high. But they did not do much to change
the intelligence assessment.

Golda Meir, described the outcome of such dependency on experts on the

evening of the Yom Kippur War: "How could it be that I was still so terrified
of war breaking out, when the present Chief of Staff, two former Chiefs of
Staff (Dayan and Bar-Lev, who was the minister of commerce and industry),
and the head of intelligence were far from sure that it would? After all, they
were not just ordinary soldiers. They were all highly experienced generals,
men who had fought and led other men in spectacularly victorious battles ' 1 .42

In addition to exercising pressures for confirmity, groups tend to be more

willing than individuals to accept risky evaluations. Handel argues that
Dayan and General Zeira had both been combat commanders and since they
were heroic types they suffered from similar perceptual defects. The fact that
they reinforced each other's views may have been a major cause of the failure
to take seriously the numerous warnings preceding the Yom Kippur War.43

. .
41~anvisIrving, Victims of Groupthinking, $id, pg. 3 .
42~olda Meir, My Life, Tel Aviv: Steimatzky, 1975, pg.357.
4 3 ~ aJosef
r Uri, "Israel's Intelligence Failure of 1973", pg. 606
17
ORGANIZATIONAL AND Bl JREAUCRATIC EXPLANATION

Intelligence analysts work within an organizational framework, which may

have interest in the status-quo and thus tend to discourage abrupt changes of
beliefs. Much of an intelligence organization's professional integrity depends
upon the degree to which freedom of expression and criticism are
encouraged." If the intelligence service is dominated by a group of powerfbl
decision-makers, it will become the prisoner of these decision makers' images,
dogmas and preconceptions. "Instead of examining carefully every piece of
evidence according to the basic rule that nothing is permanent, it will be
reduced to the subservient role of seeking supportive material for already
established theory" .45

Decision-makers are usually committed to their policy. Changing the policy

might be difficult, expensive and sometimes risky. This means that the more
committed decision makers are to their policy, the less willing they will be to
accept warnings that contradict their commitment; and the stronger this
commitment is, the stronger the evidence required to bring about acceptance
of warnings.J6

Another obstacle on the interpretation of vital signals is the " c r ywolf'

phenomenon, which is a damaging case of false alarm. False alarms have a
considerable impact. High costs can be incurred when faulty analysis is

S 4 ~ a n d eMIchael,
l "Intelligence and the Problem of Strategic Surprise, pg. 258-289
JS~hlaimAvi, "Failure in National Intelligence Estimates", pg.366.
J6~oteatGeorge, "The Intelligence Gap: Hypotheses on the Process of Surprise",
International Studies Notes, 3, 1976, pg. 15- 17.
18
When it comes to explaining Zeira's behavior, the Agranat Commission
concluded that he was a person "who was ready to make himself the final
judge in matters of intelligence in Israel" .50 That conclusion was based on
Zeira's testimony in Agarnat Commission: "Thebest support the director of
the Military Intelligence can give the Chief of Staff... is to provide him with
the clearest and sharpest estimate possible. It is true that if the estimate is very
clear and sharp, if there is a mistake it is a very clear and very sharp mistake -
but this is the risk of being the director of the Military Intelligence" .51
According to Bar Josef, Zeira was so confident that war was impossible, that
he became far more concerned with how to avoid repeating the costly "Blue*
-
White" alert of May 1973 than his main duty as Israel's number one
intelligence officer.52

INTELLIGENCE AND DECISION MAKERS

In her autobiography, Golda Meir suggested that it would have been

unreasonable for more civilians like herself to challenge the confidently
presented estimates of the military e ~ p e r t s . 5But
~ she can not escape from the
role and responsibility of the head and leader of the country to accept or
reject intelligence assessment. Furthermore, decision-makers influence the
content of intelligence assessment and should form assessments of their own
concerning the enemy and his likely behavior. They may be able to correct
erroneous intelligence assessments because they have at least two advantages

50~granatCommission, The &ranat Report, pg.34.

51 r ran at Commission, Ibid, pg.34-35.
5 2 ~ aJisef
r Uri, "Israel's Intelligence Failure of 1973", pg.605
53~olda Meir, My Life, pg. 357-359.
20
over intelligence analysts: since they are not constantly involved in the
process of assessing intelligence, they might detect shortcomings in earlier
assumptions and formulations of the assessment; and they are aware of the
overall picture concerning the intentions and capabilities of both sides - their
own and those estimated to be the enemy1s.54"A sound and comprehensive
intelligence evaluation is the product not merely of accurate technical data,
but also of background political knowledge that helps the analyst to lift the
signals out of the confusion of noise. He can then interpret them in the broad
perspective of regional and international mutations, that have a bearing on
the adversary's perceptions and calculations1' .55

The Yorn Kippur failure illustrates the danger of subordinating intelligence to

a dominant and centralizing political authority. The main task of the
intelligence producer is to portray reality, as precisely as possible and to make
sure that the doubts and uncertainties are known. It does not include
decisionmaking, despite the powerful temptation.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite the large amount of information that was gathered by the intelligence
-
branches before the war there was a failure to predict it within a reasonable
advance time. As it was described throughout the paper, the surprise attack
in Yom Kippur was not the result of any single factor, nor did it occurred
because of mistakes committed on any one level.

54~hlaimAvi, "Failure in National Intelligence Estimates", pg. 367-371

pg.370.
21
Three factors seem to be especially significance in creating the surprise:
I . The quality of information and data available for judging and predicting
enemy behavior. The lack of direct evidence pertaining to the enemy's
intentions and the ambiguous nature of the available warning indicators and
critical factors made it very difficult to assess correctly both the intentions and
the capabilities of the opponent.56
2. The persistence of conception, even in the face of evidence. Again, the
ambiguous nature of intelligence material makes it possible for the analyst to
easily assimilate incoming information to his beliefs without changing them,
even when a change is required.57
3. The strong linkages between the analytical process and the environment in
which it took place. Intelligence production influences decision making; but
at the same time a combination of factors heavily influenced the way in
which conceptions were formed and information was read. The intelligence
assessment affected the operational concept and vice versa, and strong
interdependency was created between the main players.

The Israeli policy-makers excessively relied on assessments of the physical and

qualitative balance of forces. Judging the balance to be in their favor and
assuming that the Egyptians would not be so foolish to attack in the face of
such superiority, the Israeli government chose not to respond to early
indications that Egypt and Syria were preparing for a war. Israel's military
logic was "Western" in that war did not appear to be viable option unless

j6Ben Zvi Abraham, "Hindsight and Foresight: A Conceptual Framework for the Analysis of
Surprise Attack", pg.395-396.
5 7 ~ aJosef
r Uri, "Israel's Intelligence Failure of 1973",pg.586-587.
22
victory was assured. But Sadat was ready to attack, knowing that he would be
able to attain his political goals even by limited military objective^.^^ The
success achieved by Egypt and to a limited degree by Syria did a great deal to
the cumulative effects that the many previous losses had taken on them;
-
national identity and spirit were restored; the myth of Israel as invincible foe
was dispelled; the myth that Arabs could not work together in coordination -
was dashed. A tradition of leadership in the Arab world was started for
Egypt.

T o conclude the analysis, it might be said that Israel deceived itself: the
adherence to "the conceptiontt,the faith in its military deterrence power, the
unwillingness to believe that the Arabs would take so great risks and the
-
"wishful thinking" all of these, rather than deception, contributed to its
crucial surprise.

The constant recurrence of intelligence failure has brought many attempts of

suggesting safeguards and improvements aimed to prevent future failure.
According to Kam, three main categories of safeguards are often suggested, in
order to improve the anafyticalprocess:59

1. Increasing awareness o f fimitations- to the nature of judgmenta .1 biases

and the limitations of the intelligence process.

2 . Improving the formation o f hypotheses - in order to increase the

-
5 8 ~ c ~ o r mG.,
i c "SurprisePerceptions and Military Style", pg. 836-837.
59~am Efraim, m e Atfa&, pg. 2 16-221 .
 perceived likelihood of alternative interpretations and scenarios that may
sensitize analysts and decision makers to discrepant information.

3. Improving informationprocessing - especially by using quantitative

approaches and empirical methods to facilitate the information process.

Intelligence failures also lead to attempts to improve organizational

procedures. These attempts try to reduce the group influence. Janis suggests
that leaders in organizations should avoid setting a group norm that will elicit
conformity with their views among the subordinates. They should enable the
members of the group to develop an atmosphere of open inquiry and to
explore a wide range of 0 ~ i n i o n s . 6 ~

The intelligence community should encourage spirit of openness, caution,

skepticism, imagination and to protect cautious, skeptical junior analysts who
raise tough questions and doubts. The fostering of this open and flexible spirit
requires a great deal of education, but once it is achieved, it might reduce
many of the risks involved in the analytical process.

-
Lowering the threshold o f warning This approach entails the "cry wolf'
phenomenon, which can in turn reduce sensitivity to additional warnings and
it may cost a very high price to the nation's economy. But in the case of
Israel, which is in a militarily vulnerable position, risks must not be taken and
-
when tactical actualities are at variance with strategic possibilities the

. .
60~enis
Irving, Victims of Groupthankang, pg. 209-21 1
24
priority should be given to the capabiliries test and to identify it as sufficient
for warning.61

While surprise attack by definition is one that is truly understood only in

retrospect, it is hoped that these steps may help to gain more time for better
preparations and for minimizing the damage once a surprise attack occurs.

6 1 ~ aIsrael
l (Gen.), "The Deterrence as a Component Within the Israeli National Security
Doctrine", in Hamanit 411988, pg. 6-8, (Hebrew).
25
 gIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS

Agranat Commissin, The Agranat Report, Am Oved, 1975, (Hebrew).

-
Bartov Hanoch, Daddo 48 Years and 20 More Days, Tel Aviv :
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Brecher Michael, Decision in Crisis : Israel, 1967 and 1973, Berkeley :
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Dayan Moshe, The Story of My Life, Tel Aviv : Steimatzk~,1976.
El Sadat Anwar, In Search of Identitv : An Autobiography, New York,
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George Alexander and Smoke Richard, Deterrence in American Foreien
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Janis Irving and Mann Leon, Decision Makine, New York : Free Press,
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. .
Janis Irving, Victims of Groupthlnklng, Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1972.
Jervis Robert, Perception and Mis~erceptionin International Politics,
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Kam Efraim, Surprise Attad;, Harvard University Press, Cambridge,
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Lanir Zvi, Fundamental Surprise : The National Intelligence Crisis, Tel
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Bar Josef Uri, "Israel's Intelligence Failure of 1973", Security Studies 4,

No. 3, 1995.
Barak Ehud, "Issues in Intelligence", in Intellieence and National Securir)i,
Maarachot, 1988.
Ben Porat Yoel, "Why Estimates Collapse?", in Intelligence and NauMaa
Securitv, Maarachot, 1988.
Ben Porat Yoel, "The Yom Kippur War - A Mistake on May and a
Surprise on October", Maarachot, Aug. 1985, (Hebrew).
Ben Zvi Abraham, "Hindsight and Foresight : A Conceptial Framework
for the Analysis of Surprise Attack", World Politics 28, 1976.
Bonham ahh hew, Shapiro Michael and Trumble Thomas, "The October
War : Changes in Cognitive Orientation Towards the Middle East
Conflict", International Studies Quarterly 23, 1979.
Eylon Avraham, "National Readiness - The Primary Solution to Surprise
Attack", in Intdlgence and N a W 1 Security, Maarachot, 1988.
Gazit Shlomo, "Intelligence, Estimate and Warning", Jerusalem : The
Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations, 1981, (Hebrew).
Handel Michael, "The Yom Kippur War and the Inevitability of Surprise",
International Studies Quarterly 2 1, 1977.
Handel Michael, "Intelligence and the Problem of Strategic Studies", Vol.
7, No. 3, 1984.
Handel Michael, "Crisis and Surprise in Three Arab-Israeli Wars", By
Knorr and Morgan (ed.), in Strategic Military Surprise, N.J. : Transaction
Books, 1983.
-
Kam Efraim, "Surprise Attack Obstacles and,Safeguards", in ~ U X X

and National Security, Maarachot, Tel Aviv, 1988.

McCormic Gordon, "Surprise, Perception and Military Stylev,Orbis 26,
1983.
Poteat George, "The Intelligence Gap : Hypotheses on the Process of
Surprisev, International Studies Notes 3, 1976.
Shlaim Avi, "Failure in National Intelligence Estimates", World Politics 28,
1976.
Tal Israel, "The Deterrence as a Component within the Doctrine of the
Israeli National Securityt', (Hebrew), in "Hamanit", April 1988.