From: Israel Idea: Swords Into Software
The U.S. is by far the world’s largest spender on the military and intelligence. But the Pentagon could learn something from Israel about how to convert defense dollars into commercial products that can benefit the broader economy. Veterans of a single unit of the Israeli Defense Forces’ Intelligence Corps have launched such successful ventures as Check Point Software Technologies (CHKP), the network security software company; ICQ, the pioneer of instant messaging; and NICE Systems, which detects fraud. The secretive operation, called Unit 8200, serves as the corps’s technology intelligence unit. Ido Aharoni, Israel’s consul general in New York, says the closest thing America has is DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. But no one in the Pentagon is responsible for getting commercial bang for military bucks. That makes it fertile ground for improvement.
About
CNN technology writer. Formerly at the Los Angeles Times. I also talk about music. And politics. And pizza if I'm hungry.
