Hamas’s barbaric raid on southern Israel represents the worst failure in Israeli intelligence since the Yom Kippur War of 1973. As in 1973, an Egyptian gave advance warning that “something big” was about to happen. In 1973, it was Ashraf Marwan, son-in-law of the deceased Egyptian dictator Gamal Abdel Nasser and aide to Nasser’s successor, Anwar Sadat. In 2023, it was Abbas Kamel, the head of Egyptian intelligence. The footage of Hamas surging through Israel’s Gaza fence proves that tech is no substitute for HUMINT: human intelligence.
A false alert suggested that the Lebanese organization Hezbollah had launched a wave of drones into Israel on Wednesday. At the same time, another false report suggested the U.S. Embassy in Beirut was being evacuated.
The U.S. Navy is counting on advances in laser technology to protect its nuclear-powered aircraft carriers against Chinese drones and hypersonic missiles.