Itai Shapira, Col. (Ret.), former Israeli Defense Intelligence, on "Intelligence Culture in Israel"

Interview of Friday, 26 August 2022 of Col Itai Shapira, a former Deputy Head of Analysis for the Israeli Defense Intelligence Service. Host: AFIO's President, James Hughes, a former senior CIA Operations Officer. They discuss the topic of "The Israeli National Intelligence Culture" - which is the theme of the thesis he is working on for his doctorate. It is based on his experiences being in military intelligence for twenty-six years. He is studying the system of beliefs, of values, of approaches, unique to Israeli intelligence, but also themes which are universal or shared with other intelligence services or agencies. While there is an abundance of literature about Israeli Intelligence, there is little on "the culture" of the intelligence service. He looks at the intelligence service through a cultural lens...at the organization, process, and products all through the lens of culture. Also discussed were the differences in how Israel attracts, trains, and retains intelligence officers -- particularly for military intelligence -- versus Mossad, Shin Bet, and various US and UK intelligence services. The interview runs 26 minutes. See his 2021 article at "Defense One" on: America Needs Competitive Intelligence. https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2021... BIOS: ITAI SHAPIRA is a retired colonel from Israeli Defense Intelligence (IDI) with more than 25 years of service as an intelligence analyst and manager on the tactical, operational, and strategic levels. During his military service, Shapira served as an intelligence officer (G2) of a regional brigade and of an infantry division, including during some of the Israeli Defense Forces' (IDF) hybrid warfare conflicts. Additionally, he served in various roles in the IDI's Research and Analysis (RAD) Division on the general staff level — including as the head of the Syrian Department, and the deputy head of RAD for analysis. In this capacity, he oversaw RAD's analytical products, tradecraft, methodologies and strategic partnerships — supporting policy, strategy, force design and operations on the national, defense, and military levels. Shapira integrated all-source analysis of strategic, political, military, technological, counterterrorism, targeting, economic and social intelligence. He also served as the Head of the IDI's “Red Team” Department, where he oversaw the production of alternative analysis pertaining to all issues engaged by the IDI as well as the development of disruptive thinking methods. Shapira is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom studying national intelligence cultures. He is also the director of the Red Team Thinking Academy™, where he leads training provided to national security organizations in disruptive thinking. He has a B.A. in economics and philosophy from Tel Aviv University and an MBA from Tel Aviv University (with a thesis researching the influence of competitive intelligence over corporate strategy in the Israeli business world), and is a graduate of the Israeli National Defense College. Shapira has published academic and professional articles about intelligence, Middle Eastern and defense matters in Intelligence and National Security, War on the Rocks, Defense One, The National Interest, RealClear Defense, and Strategic Assessment. JAMES R. HUGHES currently serves as the 17th President of AFIO. His service began January 2015. He had a career of US Government service spanning 37 years in numerous foreign countries with a particular focus in the Middle East. He started in U.S. Military Intelligence in the late 1960s and then joined the CIA’s Clandestine Service. He served overseas as a Chief of Station several times, and at CIA Headquarters in a number of senior management positions, including as Chief of the Near East and South Asia Division, in the Directorate of Operations [today’s National Clandestine Service]. He was also named the Associate Deputy Director of Operations (ADDO) at the National Security Agency, 1998-99. Following his retirement from the government in 2005, he joined EDS in Herndon, VA, as the Client Industry Executive for the U.S. Intelligence Community. After the HP acquisition of EDS, he continued to serve in a similar capacity until his retirement in 2012. His parents were missionaries in Turkey in the 1950s, where Jim spent his formative years. He is fluent in Arabic. AFIO's upcoming programs: https://www.afio.com​ Follow us: LinkedIn:   / association-of-former-intelligence-officer...   Twitter:   / afio   YouTube:    / afiovideos   Podcasts: Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Tune-In: https://tunein.com/podcasts/Education... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2eFF... Podbean: https://afio.podbean.com/