A sad end to a stellar career

It is hard to downplay the shock sustained by the defense establishment Sunday upon learning of the decision to dismiss Yair Ramati, head of Israel's missile defense program.

The official, laconic, reason given, that he had classified materials on his personal laptop, sounds overly simplistic and it seems there has to be more to this story.

An individual of Ramati's caliber cannot be dismissed in such a hasty, casual manner, for the simple reason that he cannot be easily replaced. He has been involved in every missile program over the past three decades; he headed Israel Aerospace Industries' top secret System Engineering and Integration Department; and he played a pivotal role in developing Israel's multi-tiered air defenses, which include Iron Dome, David's Sling and Arrow interceptors.

In other words, Ramati is not just "another" defense official. He is a unique character with a unique skill-set and knowledge, and he cannot be easily replaced. He is a considerable factor in the fact that Israel is perhaps the most missile-protected nation in the world.

Dismissing such a man -- effective immediately, no less -- could not have been an easy decision. It stands to reason that whatever the nature of the breach was, it had to have been serious enough to warrant this decision.

This dismissal had to have been preceded by a Defense Establishment Security Director investigation, and it had to be sanctioned by Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and his ministry's director general.

Defense officials said that Ramati violated a cardinal rule, that highly classified materials cannot be kept on an unencrypted device, which can be remotely accessed easily.

The defense establishment handles such matters in a rigorous, exacting manner, treating all information security violations the same way, and with more than just a slap on the wrist. Last week, the Northern Command's artillery commander was removed from office for leaving classified documents in his car, which was stolen.

A man as experienced as Ramati should have known better than to keep classified materials on his personal laptop, defense sources said Sunday. He knows it is a loophole waiting to be exploited, and in a field where Israel is a global pioneer, there are many hackers, friends and foes alike, who would like nothing more than to get their hands on the files saved on a computer whose owner happens to be the head of Israel's missile defense program.

Nevertheless, assuming that no foul play was involved, no lives were endangered, and this was not a question of personal integrity but rather of negligence, then it is precisely because of who Ramati is that the Defense Ministry should have opted for a more dignified solution.

The manner in which the Defense Ministry announced Ramati's dismissal was nothing short of despicable, and whoever penned it was either spiteful or amateurish, or both.

We are bound to learn more about this case in the coming days, but until new facts surface we will have to be content with the drama: the professional drama of having to find an immediate replacement of a similar caliber, hopefully without compromising any of the defense programs; and the personal drama of seeing the stellar career of an individual to whom Israel is greatly indebted come to a sad, sudden end.

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